This is my first attempt of making a review in this community. I thought really hard on what movie to start with and I just decided to start with The Adam Project. I mean, everyone's talking about it right now and it might be cliche but what the heck.
Let's get into it but be warned...
The Adam Project : Synopsis
Adam Reed, a pilot from the future, goes back in time to save his wife. In the past, Reed teams up with his younger self but a series of twists and turns change the focus of their mission to stopping the invention of Time Travel altogether. After finding their dead father in a further past life, they have to deal with a rollercoaster of emotions, set aside their differences and stay focused on the mission.
Can the Adams work together to save time?
The Movie
The Movie starts out with an outer space scene from the year 2050. Adam Reed is in a ship that is being pursued by pilots and soldiers, He manages to escape them by jumping into a wormhole that was supposed to take him back to 2018.
28 years earlier in 2022, 12 year old Adam Reed is a "nerd with an inhaler" struggling with school bullies while dealing with the death of his dad. He is suspended from school which gets his mother, Ellie, really worried. That night, Ellie goes on a date leaving him alone at home with his Dog, Hawking. A power surge interrupts him during a gaming session forcing him and Hawking outside the house. A disturbed Hawking runs into the woods and Adam runs after him. In the woods, Adam sees little flares of some sort before reuniting with Hawking.
They are startled by sounds in the woods and so run back home.
Reaching the house, they hear sounds of movements in the garage. Hawking runs in first while young Adam follows carefully behind with a Bat. In the garage, young Adam finds Adam Reed bleeding from a bullet injury and begins to confront him. Adam Reed goes into the house to "get some stuff" for his injury. While talking, Adam Reed accidentally calls young Adam by his name. The smart kid immediately stops him asking how he knew his name. Adam Reed realizing he could not lie starts to tell young Adam about himself. Realizing that they have a lot of things in common, the smart kid was able to put together the pieces by uttering the words, "You're me?" and Adam Reed confirms so.
Walking in the woods, Adam Reed explains part of his mission to young Adam. They find Reed's jet but the jet does not recognize Reed because of his injury. Explaining that the Jet is linked to his DNA, Reed asks young Adam to help him activate the jet which he does.
On the ship, Adam diagnoses his jet and tells young Adam that he is hiding from some people. He sets it to repair itself and explains a bit on the theory of time travel after young Adam asks.
The Adams get back to the house. Adam Reed stays in the garage while young Adam goes into the house. Back in the house, Ellie returns from her date and meets young Adam sitting on the couch. Their conversation is interrupted by a knock on the door. Ellie opens the door and finds her date, Derek, returning her scarf. Derek meets young Adam who is hostile with him. After Derek leaves, Ellie confronts young Adam and goes out the back of the house where Adam sees her from the garage window.
In the morning, young Adam is hostile to his mother before she leaves the house. Young Adam goes to the garage where he finds Adam Reed attending to his injury while listening to their dad's favorite song. Adam Reed heads out to get his injury patched but is stopped by young Adam who asks him to change his clothes. They head inside and begin to check out the clothes in their Dad's closet. Young Adam makes mean comments about their mum which triggers Adam Reed. He puts on the clothes and the two of them head out.
While Adam Reed was in the store, young Adam waits outside where he is met by two of his school bullies. The bullies proceed to beat up young Adam but stop when Adam Reed comes out of the store. Rather than stop the fight completely, Reed encourages young Adam to confront the bullies. One of the bullies beats up young Adam who gets injured and runs away causing Adam Reed to confront the bullies himself.
Back at home, Adam Reed finds an upset young Adam where he tells him that he had a wife, Laura.
Adam Reed meets Ellie at a bar where he chats with her about young Adam and the whole ordeal of losing his father.
The hunt for Adam Reed continues as a woman called Sorian leads a futuristic army to find him. Back at the house, Adam Reed explains to young Adam that he had to save his wife and Sorian, their dad's partner in the past had something to do with it. They are discovered by Sorian's troops. Adam fights them off but is eventually overpowered. As he was about to be taken into custody by Sorian, Christos and other soldiers, Laura emerges from the woods and helps them fight off the soldiers. They eventually escape to Laura's hideout where she explains what Sorian has been up to. Laura convinces the Adams to go back to 2018 and stop the invention of Time travel.
The trio is discovered by the bad guys. The Adams escape to find Reed's jet while Laura holds of Christos and the other soldiers. Sorian corners Laura and shoots her with a jet blast while the Adams escape with their jet. Sorian and Christos pursue the Adams but they escape into the past at the last minute.
In 2018, the Adams find their dad, Louis Reed, a college professor and scientist. They explain the situation to him. Adam Reed and Louis get into a bunch of arguments and Louis is reluctant to help them. At Sorian's office, future Sorian explains the situation about Adam Reed to her younger self. Young Adam meets up with Adam Reed to talk and they both get emotional. Back at home, Louis is with a younger Adam and his wife, Ellie where he contemplates on whether to help his sons.
The Adams arrive at Sorian technologies to destroy the Particle Accelerator but are met by Sorian's soldiers. They fight them off until Louis joins them and helps defeat the soldiers. Adam Reed and Louis argue with themselves but in the midst of it, Louis explains that they needed to destroy ISPCA an algorithm in a hard drive.
Louis and Adam Reed get to the particle accelerator while young Adam is discovered by Sorian and her troops. Louis pulls the hard drive out but just then, they are surrounded by Sorian's troops. Sorian holds young Adam captive who escapes causing Sorian to accidently shoot at the particle accelerator. They begin to fight and Sorian's troops are defeated. Sorian shoots at the Reeds but the bullet is pulled into the magnetic field of the particle accelerator killing the younger Sorian instead causing future Sorian to fade away. The particle accelerator is destroyed and the Reeds escape the facility.
They go back to Louis' house where they set aside their differences and reconcile. Outside the house, Adam Reed asks young Reed to give their mother a hug for him. They play catch and just as Louis was picking the ball from some bushes, the Adam's disappear to their fixed times.
Young Adam returns to a time before the battles and gives his mother a hug.
A couple of years later, Adam meets Laura in a lecture room for the first time. They leave the room together as the credits begin to roll.
Observations and my opinion (Watch or Pass?)
1. Good picks for the actors: I think the actors were well suited for their characters. I mean, we have Ryan Reynolds. THE RYAN REYNOLDS! His vibrant personality makes the movie very fun to watch. The fact that he can get very unserious in serious situations and still get the job done makes him a good pick for the reckless Adam Reed character.
The pick for the young Adam actor is also perfect. The two Adams perfectly mirror each other giving the audience a comic experience even in the midst of all the despair. This alone makes the movie a great watch. I mean, who doesn't love a good pair.
The inclusion of Mark Ruffalo really helps make up a perfect trio for this story. With his little bit of Hulk smarts, Ruffalo was able to match the energy of the two Adams. He was able to perform as an imperfect Dad with tough parenting decisions to make. Plus, the guy's kinda funny.
2. The Battles: One question. Are soldiers shit in the future? In the movie, the soldiers hardly pose much of a threat to the Reed and his buddies. They are really easy to beat. There were a couple of "What!" moments for me. We even see Reed punching them through their metal helmets and costumes. I mean, Netflix, what was going on here?...
3. What happened to Adam Reed?: We can see that in the end, young Adam returns to a time before the battles ever happened. So that was his fixed time. So what was older Adam's fixed time? Did he go back years before his wife ever disappeared or did he go back to a time closer to when the battles were supposed to begin. Come to think of it, his fixed time cannot be years before because he is already 28 years older than young Adam in the year 2050. He would have to go back to 2050 but would that year be different? In the end, we see that Adam meets Laura so as he explained to younger Adam, his memories would reconcile. So the battles would have never happened and he and Laura would have had a good life. But look at it this way...
Adam mentions that he and Laura get together during the whole time travel program. So, without the program, did they ever get together? Maybe we should let the future sort itself out.
4. Dark Humor: Those of us that love dark humor would notice a couple of them in the movie. This element adds a different layer of dark pleasant fun to the movie.
5. The quick realization of Time travel: Young Adam is smart and I get it but he was kind of quick to figure out that Older Adam was him from the future. If I saw a guy similar to me but years older, I would think he was a sick stalker or maniac but definitely not my older self, logically speaking. Also I would be in great shock and I definitely would not trust the guy. But apart from a brief asthma attack and almost fainting, young Adam was pretty okay with meeting his future self.
Louis was also quick to realize the fact but he is a scientist that believes a lot in time travel so I guess that might be okay.
6. Only one person will remember: When it's all said and done, only one person will remember everything that happened and that person is Louis. The Adams return to their fixed time and their memories reconcile but Louis stays back and remembers. If you think about it, it's kind of sad and lonely. He meets his sons from the future, helps them destroy a his brain child project because it destroys their future and he can't tell anyone about because, who would believe him. That's a lot to carry if you ask me. Ugh.
7. The Drive: The big question for me is, What the hell happened to the Drive. Was it destroyed? Is there something I missed?
The Verdict...
The Adam Project passed most assessments in my opinion and so I recommend it as a Watch. So go ahead and check it out. Why not.
Actors and their Characters
As Big Adam
As Young Adam
As Louis Reed
As Ellie Reed
As Laura
As Sorian
As Christos
Movie Trailer
Conclusion
All in all, the Adam Project is a good watch and I recommend that you see it if you haven't. Time travel movies are always kind of confusing but this one is different I promise. I have done my best to talk about the movie and how I feel about it. As this is my first review, I'd really appreciate comments and tips on how to improve.
Please leave a word or two or else I'm coming for you.
