The Adam Project is your perfect brainless sci-fi movie. Released on Mar. 11 on Netflix and directed by Shawn Levy, it combines time travel, Ryan Reynolds, and family-friendly humour for an enjoyable film that doesn’t need to be anything more than it is.
The movie follows Adam Reed, a time-traveling fighter pilot, who crash-lands in 2022 and must team up with his mouthy 12-year-old self and their late father to save the world. Their goal? To rid the world of time travel before it’s even invented.
Don’t think too hard about the time travel element to The Adam Project. It’s not a movie that answers questions about the multiverse or the consequences of meeting your younger self. If you’re looking for a sound time travel plot or a Christopher Nolan level of brilliance, you won’t find it here. But what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in actor chemistry and overall humour.
With time travel, quipping characters, and intense fight scenes, it’s like a superhero movie without the superpowers. In fact, the movie features several actors from the Marvel and DC franchises. Ryan Reynolds (playing adult Adam Reed) is his typical, wisecracking self, and Mark Ruffalo (Louis Reed), Zoe Saldana (Laura Shane), and Jennifer Garner (Ellie Reed) play supporting roles. This also became an accidental 13 Going on 30 reunion between Garner and Ruffalo, who now play husband and wife in The Adam Project.Â
But the breakout role belongs to young Adam, played by Walker Scobell. His first movie role, Scobell combines wide-eyed innocence and roasting sarcasm as the perfect younger version of Reynolds. They both have snarky attitudes that play off each other well. In fact, without the enjoyable chemistry between Scobell and Reynolds, this movie would easily get lost as a forgettable high-budget science fiction movie. As it is, the jokes land and the light tone mixes well with its heartwarming moments.
The heartfelt moments were surprisingly common, albeit a bit overdone. I was also surprised to enjoy the soundtrack as much as I did. Beyond Rob Simonsen’s score for the movie, it features some classics like Boston and Pete Townshend. I’m a sucker for a movie with ‘70s and ‘80s music, and it’s always fun to watch a fight scene paired with Led Zeppelin.
The Adam Project was largely filmed in Vancouver, including UBC and Stanley Park. It was nice to see beautiful shots of mountains, trees, and lakes that were just so recognizable as British Columbia. The movie takes full advantage of CGI, but it’s visually appealing and really adds to the feel of the movie. Even simple details, like adult Adam knowing where to find the bathroom light switch in his childhood home, boosts The Adam Project as a satisfying film.
Ultimately, this is a movie that works because of the characters and the actors, particularly Walker Scobell. I, for one, will be watching for Scobell in future projects, including the upcoming Secret Headquarters superhero film (scheduled for theatrical release in Aug. 2022). There’s just something about Scobell’s mix of innocence and snark that comes so naturally for the child actor — which may be partially due to the fact that the 13-year-old has memorized and is happy to recite speeches from the R-rated Deadpool films, which also stars Reynolds.
The Adam Project may not be the best movie out there, but it’s fun to watch. Sometimes, that’s all a film needs to be.
Danaye studies English and procrastination at UFV and is very passionate about the Oxford comma. She spends her days walking to campus from the free parking zones, writing novels she'll never finish, and pretending to know how to pronounce abominable. Once she graduates, she plans to adopt a cat.
