A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Adam Project” (2022).
“The Adam Project” has been out on Netflix for a few months now, but I finally caught up with it. I’d feared that it would be a typical Ryan Reynolds movie: full of his usual laconic comedy “Deadpool“-style schtick (which I am starting to find tiresome). And do you know? I was quite right! But that being said, it does have its moments.
Bob the Movie Man Rating(s):
Plot Summary:
Adam (Ryan Reynolds) steals a time travelling craft in 2050 with the aim of heading back to 2018 to find his missing wife Laura (Zoe Saldaña). But thanks to the efforts of his nemesis Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) he ends up injured and in 2022 with the need to get help from his 12 year old self.
Certification:
Talent:
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Walker Scobell.
Directed by: Shawn Levy.
Written by: Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett & Mark Levin.
Twitter Handles: #theadamproject.
The Adam Project Review:
Positives:
- The first 30 minutes of this one are a BTTF-style blast! Yes, you have to like Ryan Reynold’s style of snarky Deadpool-style humour, but the fact that he is bouncing these one liners off a mini-version of himself (and getting it back too) is very entertaining. There’s a nice “Flight of the Navigator” feel about the woodland setting as well that’s appealing.
- The script, in terms of the dialogue alone, has some neat lines in it. Adam’s mother at the start of the film berates young Adam for his attitude to school – “The future is coming sooner than you think”. Arf!
- Amongst a generally good ensemble cast (Jennifer Garner always impresses), Walker Scobell as ‘Adam jnr’ does an excellent job. He’s really got the Reynold’s mannerisms down to a ‘T’.
- A “Field of Dreams” moment in the finale is gently touching and well done. It’s unusual to get such heart injected into a sci-fi-based plot.
Negatives:
- If this had stayed as a nice “Back to the Future” / “Peggy Sue Got Married”-style of time travel flick, with the addition of Ryan Reynolds’ humour, I would have love it. I was really invested in the whole grief/regrets elements surrounding the dad’s death. But the film really went downhill for me when the armour-clad troopers arrived. At this point, the committee of scriptwriters seemed to take over and decided to turn it into some sort of half-arsed Return of the Jedi-style shoot-em-up. The Star Wars analogy is well made, since we haven’t seen such deadly accuracy in troopers since ‘8x Glasses Ltd’ sponsored the Stormtrooper Training Academy! It all seems to crass and poorly thought through: the ‘goodies’ seem to have light-sabre things that vapourise their opponents in seconds. The ‘baddies’: not so much! Bonkers!
- All of the timey-wimey aspects of the story tend to tie themselves up in knots and make you fully appreciate why time travel must never be a thing that’s invented in the future (no, not that we “just don’t know it yet”).
- Sorry… I like Zoe Saldana in a lot of things. But, for me, her acting here goes to 11 (and not in a good way).
Summary Thoughts on “The Adam Project”:
I really wanted to like this more than I did. It seemed to have a lot of potential that got frittered away with an over-eager rush to chuck in action. As a curate’s egg, it’s well worth watching for the bits where the script zings along nicely. And overall, it’s a perfectly pleasant movie for a rainy afternoon.
Trailer for “The Adam Project”
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE8HIsIrq4o .
人生不如意十之八九，开心最重要！
I absolutely agree with you! I’d say 10/10!
不知道说啥，开心快乐每一天吧！
好吧，我很高兴你每天都开心！这是生活中最好的方式！请保重并感谢您访问 One Mann’s Movies.