The Adam Project was a chore to watch… not because it’s terrible but because my internet connectivity is randomly flickering on and off. But, in between drops, I was able to watch this film and found it… well, maybe not worth the hassle, but still a pretty good sci-fi flick.
The movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a time travel from 2050 who comes back to 2022 where he has to get the assistance of his 12 year old self. Baddies from the future (led by a surprise Catherine Keener) are out to stop him from completing his mission (in 2018). Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo play his parents.
Yeah, this is a pretty enjoyable sci-fi action/comedy that dabbles in time paradoxes but mostly just waves its arms around about it. But we don’t come here for the existential self-reflection (though the movie has some of that) but for the humor and the action set pieces (and the very good but also random needle drops).
Reynolds is playing a variation on his usual thing… but this PG-13 movie makes attempts at having a heart so a lot of his more adult material is toned down. He comes off a little more like a human being instead of an animated sarcasm machine… though he certainly still plays Captain Sarcasmo. The movie gives some of his lines to the kid version of himself and is smart enough to show how hurtful his wise-ass routine is to his family.
As far as the plot… I mean, I’ve seen much better, more twisty, more clever time travel plots. What they give us is fine… it gets the job done but doesn’t rewrite the genre. I enjoyed it well enough but it wouldn’t hold up much to serious analysis. But I don’t think it cares.
I was pleased to see a scattering of actual, genuine human emotions between the characters. The relationship between adult child and father, young son and mom, husband and wife, and adult son and mom (who doesn’t realize who he is). It’s genuinely pretty touching at times… even if it feels like the movie is taking a pause to sprinkle in the humanity. At least it did that much.
Overall, I wish I liked this flick more but, for what it is, it’s pretty good. A decent little sci-fi action film with a little humanity sprinkled in. The acting is good all around, even if Reynolds is doing Reynolds. It’s better than most of his other Netflix attempts, that’s for sure.
Score: 84