“The Adam Project” opens with a chase scene between two time jets. One of them aboard the wounded pilot, Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds). Adam then projects a wormhole in space transporting him to the year 2022 (28 years ago), crash landing near his old house.
Young Adam (Walker Scobell) grieves the death of his father Louis (Mark Ruffalo). His only means of coping with his sadness and anger is to express himself honestly and bitterly towards others. As a result, he is frequently targeted by bullies at school. Despite this, his mother (Julia Garner) remains loving and protective towards him despite his misdeeds.
Anyway, future Adam travels to the past to find his wife Laura (Zoe Saldana) who went missing during a mission in 2018. But since he accidentally traveled back to 2022, he needs to get his ship repaired first before he can rescue her. In order to accomplish this, he enlisted the assistance of young Adam.
Unfortunately, the existence of a future Adam has the potential to significantly alter the timeline and cause irreversible damage to time and space. The longer he continues to live in the past, the more serious the consequences will become. Furthermore, the dystopian leader Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) and her minions are hot on his trail, attempting to apprehend him. Compounding the situation even more.
“The Adam Project” marks the second collaboration of Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy. Like Levy’s first film with Reynolds, this not only showcases the comedic brand of the actor, it also involves a lot of spectacles and entertaining action sequences. The film’s plot and aesthetic will remind you of old sci-fi film franchises like "Stars Wars" and “Back to the Future.” However, despite the pleasant and ambitious conflict that spans across time and space, the film's most notable strength is its dramatic sequences.
“The Adam Project” is about moving on and letting go. Although the story is not particularly complex or emotionally charged, it does have the potential to tug at the heartstrings of viewers due to its themes of sadness and grief. Many times, the characters get what they want and the movie allows them to have a moment of triumph. Although, these are all short lived as they must let go because it’s the right thing to do. Essentially, it's saying that accepting and embracing reality is sometimes the only way to move forward.
“Reynolds” and “drama” feels wrong to say nowadays as it sounds outdated. Reynolds has become a fixture in action and comedy that it’s almost certain people will wait for the punchline every time he pulls off a sad face. But once upon a time, Reynolds can pull off emotional scenes with bravado. He’s a capable actor and it shows in this film.
Reynolds is still capable of committing to scenes that are extremely emotional. During a confrontation scene with his father, his character's bottled-up rage was finally let out. At that point, Reynolds's delivery and appeal commanded the screen and the audience's interest. Although it wasn't his best performance to date, he does demonstrate that he was not the wrong choice to star in the film.
Besides Reynolds, supporting casts such as Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo, and Catherine Keener did a decent job. There isn’t much material they can work with yet they all shine on their respective moments. Newcomer, Walker Scobell, was also able to showcase his talents. But he’s a little annoying with his lines imitating Ryan Reynolds.
All in all, “The Adam Project” is a decent watch. The visuals and performances fuels this film to make it memorable and fun to watch. It has a nice emotional core as well. The only issue with it is that Levy focuses too much on the comedy and action that the drama becomes a postscript in the story.
3/5
