The Adam Project – Plenty of Fun
Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett (Screenplay)
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, Catherine Keener, Alex Mallari Jr
Plot: A time-traveling pilot teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future.
Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Adam Project starts when a time traveler Adam (Reynolds) escape in his time traveling jet to the year 2022, injured, he takes shelter near his younger self (Scobell), who has been dealing with the real problems they both understand of losing their father.
As Adam reveals the threat that is following him in Maya (Keener), along with his motivation for traveling back through time, the bond between the younger version of future Adam become stronger than it should have been.
Thoughts on The Adam Project
Characters & Performances – Adult Adam is the time traveler looking to go back in time for his own reasons, on the run from the people running the other members of his team, he finds his younger self, as he gets to put life lessons on himself, while trying to complete his mission. This Adam does have all the wise cracking side you would expect from every Ryan Reynolds characters, with his charisma shining through. Young Adam is still living in the shadow of losing his father, finding himself bullied at school, being difficult to his mother. Walker Scobell does an excellent job playing a young Ryan Reynolds, bringing all the charisma you would expect from Reynolds. Maya Sorian is the woman hunting down Adam through time, knowing he is looking to reveal the secret to what she has been up to in time travel. Catherine Keener does well as the villain, showing the power her character has gained from everything. When we meet the other characters in the film, each one will offer a bigger picture to what is going on for the Adams in their journey through time.
Story – The story here will find a time traveler meeting his younger self, as he looks to travel back in time to stop an event from happening, leading to the pair bonding, passing on life lessons and learning to work together to save the future. This story will look to throw a lot of the typical time travel cliches out the window to create a more personal journey for the Adam character, showing time travel being used in a negative way for one person’s gain, like Back to the Future, mixing the two together, to give us a story about learning about yourself, rather than relying on reliving moments in life. There is a message about treating loved ones well, as well as the idea of time traveling being used incorrectly.
Themes – The Adam Project is an action sci-fi that will look to break the rules of time travel, use the modern technology, which doesn’t seem too much different than most other sci-fi films, as well as the crafts all looking like what we would expect to see, the biggest change comes from the method of time travel, which is the standout from the opening sequence.
Final Thoughts – The Adam Project is an enjoyable time traveling movie, with plenty of heart around it.