THE ADAM PROJECT: Family-Fun Action-Adventure That Falls Somewhat Short of its Potential

The Adam Project is the type of film that is sometimes sorely needed. It’s a lively, energetic action film consisting of time travel, cool futuristic weapons, and an odd but fitting pairing of a middle-aged man with his younger self. It may bring to mind a multitude of other time travel films (Back to the Future, for example, or Looper, or even the more recent Avengers: Endgame), but it has enough of its own ideas to succeed on its own. Where it falls short, though, is in its capacity to linger in the mind afterward, and with the underdevelopment of certain characters and plotlines; still, for a Netflix original, it is worth checking out.

Time Traveling Adventure

The Adam Project begins in 2050. We don’t quite know what’s happening, but there are spaceships explosions and a man named Adam (Ryan Reynolds) on the run. Then we come to 2022, where we see a young boy also named Adam (Walker Scobell), a kid who gets bullied and is often obstinate and rude to his adoring mother (Jennifer Garner). One night, there’s a crash in his backyard, and who should appear but Reynolds’ Adam. We soon realize that Adam from 2050 is none other than the younger Adam all grown up. He’s come back to 2022 to find his girlfriend Laura (Zoe Saldaña), who came back in time to try to fix a time stream issue. But he’s also being chased by the relentless Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener), who, for reasons not yet known, wants to stop Adam from succeeding in his mission.

As mentioned, The Adam Project may bring to mind a lot of similarly-minded films; after all, when dealing with time travel is it even possible not to touch on similar themes as past works? There’s the idea of going back in time to see your own self, seen in a film like Looper (though with different implications), of changing the past like in the Back to the Future series, some themes touched on in Terminator, and even some ideas explored in a film like 12 Monkeys, which is itself influenced by the French short film La Jetée. What The Adam Project does with these isn’t completely fresh and unheard of, per se, but it does manage to at least blend and mince them up into an entertaining homage-driven romp, with references aplenty but also a lot to help it succeed in its own right.

Ryan Reynolds (and Company)

Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy have been on a good run lately. Starting with the fun video-game influenced Free Guy back in 2021, they’ve now starred in The Adam Project this year, and have also recently announced their collaboration in Deadpool 3. The third film notwithstanding, since we obviously haven’t seen it yet, what these films seemingly have in common is, first and foremost, a desire to entertain. After all, isn’t that what movies are for?

In The Adam Project, it’s mostly seen through the futuristic action. In several scenes, for example, we see Reynolds‘ character fight, souped-up guys, from the future, who can turn invisible and also have laser guns, and he takes them on while wielding a fancy white glowing stick (which is definitely not a lightsaber). Coupled with a typically high-energy ballad-like Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times Bad Times,” and later a good use of “Foreplay/Long Time” by Boston, it makes for an inspired good time. Also, when the bad guys die they erupt in a cloud of glowing neon dust, so look out for that.

If not much into action, though, there’s still plenty of heartfelt moments and humor to be had between our two protagonists, who share fittingly ample amounts of chemistry considering they’re supposed to be the same person. Reynolds is his typical quick-witted self, but it’s the young Scobell who often stands out here, managing to interject some truly funny moments into the film, with some expert timing for his jokes. At times, though, the humor does feel misplaced, especially when the film is trying to be more of a serious action-adventure as opposed to a straight action-comedy like Levy’s previous film Free Guy. Still, it’s at least not enough to be obtrusive, and as a whole, the balance between humor and seriousness is somewhat close to equal.

Lost Potential

Despite the entertainment value, you can’t help but feel the lost potential of The Adam Project at the same time, similar to Levy’s prior work. In Free Guy, for example, the film is about a video game character (played by Reynolds) suddenly becoming self-aware while living in a violent mission-driven world. But what it does with this is somewhat underwhelming; while it has its moments, it doesn’t really delve much into the implications of artificial intelligence, choosing instead to opt for action scenes within the video game world.

With The Adam Project, it’s somewhat the same. The discussion of time travel is often overlooked and not fully delved into, with the film instead transitioning into yet more futuristic action battles. Though the implications of how much a past choice can influence your future are actually expanded upon as reasonably as you can expect (with some emotional resonance to boot), it still feels like more could have been added. This is, as I mentioned, first and foremost a film meant to entertain, but to at least take something more with you after the credits roll would have made it even more impactful.

There are also some characters and plotlines that are glossed over throughout. Catherine Keener‘s character, for example, just seems to exist as a means to create conflict for our main protagonists, with her full motivations never really being expanded upon. While I usually enjoy Keener in films, this is one where she is unfortunately underused. The same can be said here for the usually-great Zoe Saldaña, who at least gets an epic action scene but not much more. Mark Ruffalo is an example of a character who at least does get more screentime, even if he still doesn’t strike an impact like our two leads. He doesn’t come onto the scene until the final act, but through Ruffalo’s valiant efforts, he manages to have at least some emotional resonance. Altogether, the unlikely three leads manage to exude the necessary heart at the center of the film.

Conclusion

To conclude, The Adam Project is an exciting time-traveling romp from Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy that is sure to give you a couple of hours of entertainment, however fleeting it may be overall. But hey, sometimes fleeting is perfectly acceptable. Not every movie needs to be groundbreaking or thought-provoking in order to be a success. And for time-traveling films, you could do much worse. The cast is fully on board, even if some of them are underused, and director Shawn Levy sure knows how to shoot an action scene. For those reasons and more, The Adam Project is worth your time.

What are your thoughts on The Adam Project? Are you a fan of Ryan Reynolds’ recent films? Let us know in the comments below. 

The Adam Project is now streaming on Netflix. 

Watch The Adam Project