The Adam Project (2022) Review
It took me five sittings to get through this film. Constant distractions and chores kept stopping me from finishing it. Did I choose to watch this movie on a very busy week? Yes. Should I have picked a better time? Yes. Does that change anything now? No.
Plot: After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self for a mission to save the future.
Following their *insert Borat voice* great success, Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy reteam after Free Guy for a science fiction film for Netflix. Upon researching the behind the scenes I discovered that The Adam Project was originally supposed to be made back in 2012 and had none other than Tom Cruise attached in the lead role, however then the movie fell into development hell until Netflix bought the rights and made the final result 10 years later. Evidently now the purpose of the delay comes to surface in that the script is weak. Itās as generic of a sci-fi time travel plot as you can expect, and the entire gimmick lies upon Ryan Reynolds sharing a screen with a kid who can make a good impression of a child version of Reynolds. To be fair, the kid Walker Scobell does well with bringing out the sarcastic wise-cracking self of Reynolds to life, however I did find his voice annoying. Itās the kind of kid voice I expect to hear at the grocery store negging his mother to buy him a Mars bar. Well shut it Walker, you aināt getting a Mars bar! You donāt deserve it cause of your stupid voice!
Outside of the dynamic of Reynolds with the kid, the movie is left with not much else to offer. The time travel aspect is overly convoluted and nonsensical, and all ends up in a finale set piece that is stolen straight from Terminator Genisys, and not going to lie, Terminator Genisys is not the type of film one should be inspired by. Minor near cameo appearances from the likes of Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner (the latter two enjoying a little 13 Going On 30 reunion) are welcome in that they all come with some emotional heft, however two or three powerful scenes donāt save the movie from itās overall blandness. Also Catherine Keener plays the villain, and she herself is okay, but the terrible aspect comes in when the movieās plot rewinds to 2018, we see a younger version of that character and goodness gracious do I now realise that we had no reason to complain about that young Luke Skywalker deep fake in the finale of The Mandalorianās second season! I mean just look at this so called transformation!ā¦
Those are some lousy effects and also Keenerās dialogue is out of sync with her younger characterās movements in the film. This CGIād version doesnāt match the ample photographic record of what Catherine Keener actually looked like in her 30s. It seemed really off and Iād hate to make the same reference again, but she looked like a bloody Terminator. Ah wait, hang on *shuffles through some papers* Skydance (the production company behind the Terminator movies) produced The Adam Project. All of a sudden these Terminator comparisons are not so coincidental!
The Adam Project is alright. Just alright. Has its moments, Ryan Reynolds and the kid share good banter (even though Ryan Reynolds playing Ryan Reynolds is getting a bit repetitive), however the time travel plot and weak CGI effects are a detriment and make for this to be an overall throwaway Netflix feature. I shall go rewatch Free Guy again instead.
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