"The Adam Project"

***1/2 

2022 * PG-13 * 1h 46m
If you’re looking for a fun movie the whole family will enjoy, don’t miss this new release from Netflix. The film features a great cast that includes Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, and the young and talented Walker Scobell. It’s a time-travel, adventure movie with almost non-stop action, great special effects, and a steady volley of funny one-liners. I especially enjoyed Reynolds performance. He seems to be on a roll these days, as his recent film “Red Notice” will attest to. Reynolds knows he’s Mr. Studley, but he has no problem engaging in self-deprecating humor. His irreverent style of comedy makes his films a joy to watch. 

 

The year is 2050 and a fighter pilot Adam (Reynolds), is being chased through Earth’s upper stratosphere. He creates a wormhole, which he enters and is transported back to 2022, where he crashes. It’s revealed that he was actually aiming for 2018, the destination his true love was heading to but never returned from. His miscalculation lands him in his childhood backyard, and he takes refuge in his dad’s shed. There his 12-year old self discovers him. The young Adam (Walker Scobell) is a smart, nerdy kid who’s constantly being bullied at school. He’s at home because he was suspended from school for fighting. 

 

It’s revealed that Adam’s father Louis (Mark Ruffalo) is a professor who invented time travel. He died about a year before and young Adam is having a hard time dealing with this loss. As a result of Louis’s discovery, a former student of his Maya Sorien (Catherine Keener) has used time travel to enrich herself and built an empire to the detriment of the entire planet. This isn’t clearly explained, unless I missed something. Adam’s goal is twofold. He wants to find out what happened to Laura (Zoe Saldana), and to prevent his dad from revealing the formula for time travel. The evil Sorien is hot on his tail aiming to destroy him before he can accomplish this.

 

The two Adams embark on their adventure together. It’s amusing to see them interact. Young Adam is a geeky shrimp who’s game for just about anything. He’s in total awe of the fact that he grows up to be a muscle-bound hunk. And older Adam is constantly teasing him with smart-ass comments and asides. They make a fun couple as they carry out their mission. 

 

The special effects are also quite entertaining. They owe quite a bit to George Lucas and the “Star Wars” franchise. Another factor I particularly enjoyed is the soundtrack. Normally I object to the use of pop tunes in a movie—I think it’s a cheap alternative to commissioning an original score. But this film is laced with catchy rock tunes from the late 60’s and early 70’s. They contribute to the overall fun spirit of “The Adam Project”. 

 

Time travel is one of my favorite genres. I read the amazing book “Time and Again” by Jack Finney in my teens and from then on I’ve been hooked.  I enjoy the romantic ones like “Somewhere in Time”, “The Lake House”, and “The Time Traveller’s Wife”. A ton of comical ones have been made including “Groundhog Day”, “Hot Tub Time Machine”, and “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. Then there are the serious ones like “The Terminator” and “Source Code”, and the hard-to-find “11 Minutes Ago”. One of my favorite ones is the thought provoking “Memento”. It’s so complicated there are several web sites devoted to explaining it. Just Google it and you’ll see what I mean. See you in the future!