What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the title The Adam Project? For me maybe Project Runway or some other really dumb Bravo network series.
The title really doesn’t grab you or entice you, does it?
The title does have a double meaning, so it’s not all dumb, but it is a title that could probably benefit from an overseas name change like how Ghostbusters in China is called Devil Beaters or something like that because they have a weird thing against ghosts.
So, if it wasn’t obvious by now, Ryan Reynolds has signed on for a 4-year picture deal with Netflix, making this his third Netflix original movie. The others if you needed a refresher were 6 Underground and Red Notice.
Not bad films, liking Red Notice a lot more than both of these movies. But something always feels off about Netflix big budget blockbusters.
They never have that “theater” quality. Like I can’t really see them showing in theaters, if they did they’d bomb hard. And it’s oddly specific to just their big budget films, too.
Of course I say this after having watched Blacklight, possibly the worst film of 2022. And sadly of Liam Neeson’s career and that piece of shit was only in theaters.
Thankfully I’m not review that, but The Adam Project, a kind of mediocre, slightly generic action sci-fi movie.
So one thing becomes clear pretty quickly, you’ve seen this story played out before. It’s the plot of The Terminator. But not one of the good Terminator films, no this is more like Terminator Genisys.
This isn’t a movie you’ll feel upset about seeing, or hate, in fact I doubt you’ll feel much of anything as you’ll probably forget you even watched it.
Which does fall in line with the rest of Shawn Levy’s filmography. He’s one of those directors where you mention a movie he’s done and you go oh yeah, I remember that movie. He’s mostly kid/family friendly. Making him kind of a strange choice to do Deadpool 3.
Before I start to worry about that, let’s focus on The Adam Project before the plot slips my mind completely.
And I hope you know this is cutting into my Elden Ring playing, so I hope you all appreciate that.
This movie is about Adam, of course. He’s kind of a loud-mouthed wimpy kid who gets into fights a lot. He never actually wins any of these fights but A+ for effort. Which might be a joke they actually used in the movie.
One thing I will point out is how they managed to track down a kid that does a spot-on Ryan Reynolds impression. So much so it’s kind of creepy.
He’s like a little clone. Actually, why isn’t that the first thing to pop into his head when he meets his future self? Last thing I’d think was time travel and think, I must be a clone.
Adam’s dad died a few years ago and neither he or his mom, played by Jennifer Garner are handling it very well. Adam is kind of a dick to her too, but he’s kind of a dick to everyone.
I forgot this first takes place in 2050, where we see older Adam “borrowing” a time traveling jet. He’s been shot and needs a destination to jump to. He’s also being pursued by a much cooler looking time traveling jet.
Adam’s jet lands in young Adam’s backyard which is conveniently mostly forest.
There the two get to meet and hatch a plan. Older Adam is there to find his missing wife.
She went missing a few years ago on a top secret mission to 2018. Not really buying the story his mentor and family friend Maya Sorian spun him, he decided to find out what really went down.
But since Adam was shot and in a hurry, he gets to the wrong time in 2022.
Adam’s dead dad, played by Mark Ruffalo was a scientist that actually created time travel. And was promptly killed for it.
And you get one guess who was behind it.
That’s right, a much older Adam!
Just kidding, that would have been an interesting twist, no instead it is Maya Sorian. The one in charge of the whole military time travel corp that seems to run the whole world now in this dystopian future.
Obvious bad guy is obvious?
She sends her goons after Adam, quickly tracking him down at his younger self’s house where the assault team shows up trying to kill him.
But also in this timeline is Adam’s missing wife Laura, who comes in like any action heroine and saves the day.
They managed to escape, making it to her cabin by the ocean. She has a plan, stop time travel from being invented.
It turns out Sorian has been going back in time, helping out her self in the past. That’s why Laura went to 2018, to get proof of what she’s been doing.
To stop her, they now need to go to 2018 themselves to when Adam’s dad just turned on his “Adam Project” machine, that was the basis of time travel.
Younger Adam has to tag along since older Adam is too badly injured for the ship to allow him to pilot.
For excuses go, that’s not a terrible one to keep a character around.
The Adams make it to 2018 and drop in on their now alive dad teaching a course in college. No real trying to convince him of who they are, he automatically knows they are Adams from the future.
They need his help to stop the machine from going online, they also can’t tell him he’s going to die. But why not?
Maybe I’m remembering this wrong, but I was pretty sure his death was caused by Sorian. Unless it was a completely separate accident. Considering the ending, I guess so.
However, they’re already changing the future, making so he doesn’t die sounds like a more important mission. But no, they kind of just let him die. It’s the whole Doc Brown thing, just read the damn letter Marty left you, Doc!
That’s pretty much it for Adam Project, story wise, it is slightly thin. There is this thing about his wife, if they do change the future like removing time travel, Adam and her might never have met.
They met during a class in the time travel piloting program, but if there is no time travel no class. No meeting.
Not much was really done with the Jennifer Garner character. Her and Mark Ruffalo only have one scene together. If I remember right, weren’t they in the movie 13 Going on 30?
So if there happens to be any fans of that film, here is your tiny reunion.
One big issue with this film is, it didn’t really do much to give us an idea of what 2050 was like. We never actually see this dystopia they keep mentioning.
I’m also slightly confused by what the purpose of the time travel military was used for. Like why were they going back in time for? What were their missions? Why did they need to go to pilot school to learn how to go back in time?
Maybe they explained this and I missed it, I don’t know.
The film doesn’t really take time to set much of anything up, it just drops you right into the story like a whole first act was missing.
The whole thing felt rushed, like they were sprinting to the finish line before someone realized they don’t have much of an original story.
I mentioned it’s like Terminator but really it’s a bunch of things. None of it at all original.
Ryan Reynolds is good at playing his snarky self, and I thought the kid did a pretty good job imitating him, but aside from that, it’s just one action set piece to another.
There’s also a ton of Star Wars and superhero references. Which I guess I can’t fault them as we got Deadpool, Hulk and Elektra in this.
The film had some laughs, the action was fine, everything was fine. It’s by definition a time killer. It’s a little bit over 90 minutes, so it isn’t like you’re wasting a whole day scheduling around it.
I give it a kind of meh RENT.
I was afraid it would be a bit too kid friendly, but it skirts around that PG-13 pretty well.
Now with that out of the way, back to Elden Ring!
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