THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes, it really does take time to figure out who we want to be or who we’re supposed to be.
PLOT
The Adam Project follows Adam Reed who comes from a dystopian 2050 to prevent something terrible from happening. He time travels to 2018 to save his wife Laura Shane, but ends up crash landing in 2022 when he was only 12 years old. At that point in time, he is emotionally distant from his mother Ellie due to his father Louis dying the previous year. Young Adam becomes distrustful towards his older self when he encounters him at night, but comes around when he knew his name before he told him and shares the details of his life only he would know, as well as name his dog Hawking. Future Adam allows his younger self to help him fix his time jet that’ll help them get where they want to be after finding Laura. By next morning, he gets more medicine for his wounds and helps him stand up to his school bullies. He then visits Ellie at a bar while keeping his secret who he is, but is able to talk to her to cheer her up that her son will appreciate her after what they’ve been dealing with. When returning to his old home, Future Adams tells his young self how his wife went missing in 2018 and was sure something was being hidden by his dad’s partner Maya Sorian, who leads 2050’s dystopia after profiting off of Louis’ magnetic particle accelerator named after him which he named after him. Just when he explains his reasoning of traveling through time, they get pursued by Maya’s Lieutenant Christos (Alex Mallari Junior) Thankfully, both Adams get back up by Laura who was off grid for the past four years. When they regroup at a shed, they deduce that Maya has been traveling through time to monopolize the discovery. Laura then sacrifices herself to buy the Adams a moment to get to 2018 where Louis was still alive and when the Adam Project went online. When seeing their dad again, he is hesitant due to the concern of effecting the time stream. At the same time though, Maya reaches her younger self to convince her what Adam will eradicate. Before Louis changes his mind, young Adam confronts his future self that his bitterness comes how much he misses his dad, knowing it’s easier to be angry instead of sad. Together, the Reeds reach the particle accelerator underground at Sorian Technologies, but get caught up facing Christo and other soldiers working for Maya. With the help of their dad, both Adams learn time travel won’t be destroyed as long as Sorian has his algorithm to make it so. So, they end up destroying the memory unit. However, both Mayas capture young Adam just when Louis removes the unit for the algorithm. Future Adam does distract his rivals to give his young self a chance to free himself. When that happens, young Adam unintentionally damages the electromagnetic seal which tears the facility apart. The Reeds defeat Christos, but future Maya holds Louis at gunpoint to get the unit which he refuses. He decides to shoot him, but the seal directs the bullet to her younger self, which kills them both. The Reeds are able to escape in time to avoid the facility’s implosion. When returning home, Louis reconciles with his son by playing catch with them both before they return to their timelines. When young Adam returns home, he’s now let go of his anger and hugs his mom. The film ends in an epilogue where an adult Adam takes a class of flight training where he meets Laura for the first time, who unintentionally went to the wrong class.
THOUGHTS
At this point, sci fi and Shawn Levy is really hand in hand because every time he directs such a setting, you’re set for a good time. This Netflix film is no exception because the pacing was on point and knew what it was from start to finish. The narrative is actually more simpler than you think, which is a good thing because time travel can get messy depending on the rules that are made. Weapons like Mag-Cyl and the drone headset are so well designed that you’d think they’d be real now. And the visual effects done to give them such enhancement pay off very well. The same can be said with elements such as the portal used time jets or the graphic disintegration. All of this make the chases and the fight scenes quite grounded. I don’t think this movie is better Back to the Future, the classic that has much visible homage to throughout, I find this one a standout to the sub genre for its important to tell us the importance of self healing. You know grief will be a hard part of life to process when you lose your loved ones, so it is better to say what you want to say and give all the love to them while they’re here before it’s too late, otherwise the disease of regret will cripple you exponentially. This is the case when following both personas of Adam. Young Walter Scobell is shows the young counterpart to use his feisty attitude as a mask to his grief, where adult Ryan Reynolds shows him to be impatient yet determined to set things right before it can get worse. He hates himself for the fact he didn’t get enough time with his loved ones to let them know he never resented them for things past their control. He does to get to have his own reconciliation with his parents, but it took a reflection of himself to realize he didn’t need to hard on himself the whole time. One way or another, Jennifer Garner & Mark Ruffalo still show Ellie & Louis as the most supportive parents despite having their differences with him. Ellie doesn’t stop taking care of him in his youth, whereas Louis finds content with the fact he won’t be there for them as long as he wished but is proud with the efforts he made. With such loving parents, I think it made all the more sense he’d find an equal. Zoe Saldana was impressive as Laura because she is more of Adam’s polar opposite than he realizes. They fell for each other due to being thrill seekers, but she is far more content with making a sacrificial change for the greater good. It did suck for him to lose her twice, but it became undoubtedly worth it since they still found their way back to each other was a bittersweet way to say the future can be bright for you if you’re not depending on it to happen. But if you are, you’ll never find any satisfaction with what you got. That is literally the case with Catherine Keener who portrays Maya Sorian as the most ruthless of characters in this movie. Her younger self is more ambitious to exceed expectations, but then her future self got so power hungry because it’s all she knows due to her insecurity of loneliness. She has no one while the Reeds are a big happy family compared to her and because of that, she wants all the success to herself believing it’ll give her life the most meaning. Had she not been so obsessive with personal gain, she could’ve saved herself from her own demise. This movie is so fun, but it had moments that could’ve made sense. Like it makes sense that a time jet doesn’t allow the flier to fly if injured, but why should it stop it from being fixed? That’s a big design flaw because Maya wouldn’t want to be stranded if she or Christo got hurt. And honestly, the bullies should’ve ran away the second they saw future Adam. They may not know who he is, but the last thing they need is another adult to call them out on their wrongdoing and it pains me to say it because I don’t want to root for bullies who could be smarter. Hell, even Christo’s crew could’ve hovered in front of Adam and shot him down if they want to stop him from changing Maya’s actions. And how come Laura’s only defense has one explosion? Even if she’s bound to die protecting Adam, she should’ve had more makeshift traps like in Predator to better her odds. Other than that, this movie is still a blast for what it is. In short, The Adam Project is a fun sci fi flick for all the warmth and joy between the excited action that goes down. If you got Netflix and love time travel, check this out.
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