Directed by Shawn Levy, The Adam Project follows a time-traveling fighter pilot named Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) who accidentally crash-lands in the year 2022 and must team up with his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell) on a mission to save the future.
Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds return for another film together after the surprise hit Free Guy, and given how much I liked that film I was more than happy to see what else these two could create.
Taking on a sci-fi film with time travel as one of the main plot elements is always a difficult task for obvious reasons, such as creating sensible rules of time travel and trying to do something that could stand out from other films that have done the same thing over and over. But despite the odds, Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds managed to create a solid flick that has a surprising amount of heart, great humor, and fun action.
The Adam Project was a fun film that manages to hit all the right notes even when it isn’t totally new or perfect. With an investing cast, good story, and fun technical elements I think this film is definitely going to win many hearts over.
Ryan Reynolds brings in the charm and humor you would expect, but it was very interesting to see him solidly deliver on serious moments in this film. It’s not often we get to see him go all out in the emotional department but god damn was he great at it here. I really felt for his character and all that he had been through and I was sold on his journey from beginning to end.
But the biggest stand out for me was Walker Scobell as young Adam who absolutely stole the film in so many ways. Walker perfectly matches the energy and charisma of Ryan Reynolds, really making it feel like they are the same person and making all their interaction the best part of the film. Whether they are sharing funny moments or moving moments it all feels natural and refreshing for a change, especially when it comes to time travel films and meeting your past self. Walker delivers one of my favorite performances of the year with his work in this film and I’d love to see him in more.
All the supporting cast does a great job too, especially Mark Ruffalo as Adam’s father, Jennifer Garner as Adam’s mother, and Zoe Saldana as Laura, Adam’s future wife. They all have times to shine in the film even if they don’t get as much development or focus as our two leads.
As for the villain played by Catherine Keener, she delivers a good performance too but she wasn’t that great of a villain, to be honest. She’s your basic greed-driven baddie that shares similar motives to characters we’ve seen before, most notably Biff Tanen from Back to the Future 2 but not as unique or fleshed out. She was the weakest part of the film but she does help drive the plot forward, and I will say that her henchmen from the future looked cool as hell.
The story is a fun sci-fi adventure that doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the table, but what makes it stand out is how surprisingly emotional and full of heart it is. I wasn’t expecting this film to hit as hard as it does all the way through, thanks to the brilliant performances by Walker, Ryan, and Mark.
The story definitely has its humor and fun sci-fi elements but it was all the moments in between that make this film feel different from the typical sci-fi flicks we tend to get too often nowadays. It was surprisingly moving in so many places and I felt completely invested in what was going on, even with the parts we have seen before from other films. And as for the time travel aspect, it’s all simple and not over complicated thankfully, and they do get to have fun with it.
The action we get was very exciting and filmed brilliantly; we could feel the vibrant, creative energy this film pulsates with. The cinematography is fantastic and beautiful for the film overall but I feel it excels in the action scenes. No quick cuts or jumbled-up editing, just pure sci-fi fun. The effects in the film overall are also really good and add to the fun action. It does get a bit CGI-heavy in some places, particularly near the third act, but they looked great to me.
There was however one particular effect that did bug me in the film which is related to a character that gets the de-aging treatment. Netflix always seems to have such a problem delivering a solid de-aging effect ever since The Irishman and that continues here, along with a very noticeable digital manipulation of the voice. It’s not in the film for that long but it’s painfully obvious, especially when the camera chooses to focus on it for too long. Hopefully that can be improved going forward.
The music by composer Rob Simonsen has a great sci-fi feel to it but it also manages to be emotionally impactful at times, with slower OSTs that match the mood of certain scenes. They definitely enhance and uplift the film when it’s needed. We also get a bunch of great songs from various artists that had me grinning every time they kicked in.
Shawn Levy really delivered a great flick that has a lot of heart and passion in it when it could have easily been a mindless and nonsensical sci-fi drag. It has its issues and it certainly could have been improved in various places but overall I was emotionally invested all the way through and I think this film is going to be a crowd favorite for sure. Be sure to give it a go on Netflix whenever you have time. I’m going to give The Adam Project an A-.
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