I am in the bag for Ryan Reynolds. Anytime this man puts out something new I am usually there for it. Just last year we got one of my favorite films of 2021 in Free Guy which was a complete surprise film full of heart and fun ideas. Coincidentally, that was directed by Shawn Levy, the director of The Adam Project on Netflix now. The duo hit a home run in Free Guy and now have another hit with The Adam Project.
The Adam Project follows the story of Adam (Walker Scobell), a 12-year-old boy who lost his father a couple of years back and lives alone with his mom, always getting into trouble. One night he finds a man who is beaten up recovering in his dad’s shed. Who is this man? It is Adam (Ryan Reynolds) from the year 2050, who has traveled to the past to save the future. Now the Adams must team up with each other to find the inventor of time travel in their dad Lewis Reed (Mark Ruffalo) and stop it from ever happening so the future can be saved from those who wish to use time travel for the wrong reasons. This movie is about coming to terms with your past to save the future. That’s all you needed to tell me, and I was in and this film lived up to its potential. It doesn’t break any new ground, but it leaves me emotional and entertained all within two hours and what more could you ask for? This is what director Shawn Levy does best. He takes a relatable story you’re familiar with and puts a new genre around it so that you are getting the same message but through new means. For example, the movie, Real Steel, and the Night at the Museum movies are all father/son stories. He makes you feel comfortable which is what we need sometimes in movies.
What I enjoyed about The Adam Project is its use of sci-fi. This movie draws from many familiar sci-fi classics and blends them into a new story. There are elements here of Terminator, Star Wars, and Looper all combined into this that Shawn Levy used to craft his new world this film exists in. There are also awesome uses of futuristic technology in this. For example, future Adam’s key weapon is a staff that ignites to look like a lightsaber that moves like a whip and can form a shield. They fly around on spaceships that look out of the Star Fox games and some soldiers vanish when they are hit with blasts even though they are covered head to toe in Robocop armor. That last part didn’t make sense to me, but it looked cool in the movie. On top of all that, the time travel worked for me. Time travel is a concept many films have tried and all of them have different rules. Do this film’s rules make sense? It worked for and it’s time travel, there are no rules because as of now it’s not real. Blend that in with a core of how a father and son failed to connect and I was hooked all the way through.
I already said that I’m all in for Ryan Reynolds. He could be starring in a remake of Up as the dog and I’d be in. Here in this film, he’s got that same snarkiness, but there’s a lot of heart to his character. People say he just plays himself all the time but that just isn’t true when you watch him in interviews. He’s kind of shy which is what makes his wit all that much more impressive. You try acting like Deadpool and see how difficult it is. Mark Ruffalo brings the levity you need in a story like this. He is that calming and grounded force who can also do it with a wink when he needs to. You are never disappointed to see Mark Ruffalo in a movie. The real surprise to me was Walker Scobell who at the beginning I was not a fan of. He does not act like a 12-year-old at all, he is instead doing an impression of Ryan Reynolds. However, as the story goes on, he reels it in and becomes more acceptable as a child discovering this big universe. It’s the same thing I felt with the kid from Real Steel which ironically stars Hugh Jackman, a good friend of Ryan Reynolds. I’m noticing a Shawn Levy trend here.
The Adam Project is a success in my record book. It crafts this large sci-fi spectacle and brings it to an emotional core all while having these massive ideas. The cast is all superb and Shawn Levy is doing what Shawn Levy does best. Being on Netflix is an interesting choice for a movie of this scale, but it works in almost any format, and you won’t be disappointed by this one.
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