Updated: Mar 15, 2022
Welcome back you everyone. It is I, Doc Comeau and I am back with another movie review. It's been awhile since I have done a review. Increasing the production quality of our recorded shows has eaten up more time that I anticipated and had to work to get a schedule that provided the workflow to allow me to enjoy watching films again. I have achieved this goal and here is the review of Netflix's new movie The Adam Project.
Authored by Doc Comeau on Tuesday, March 15th, 2021 at 5:50 PM EST
The Adam Project is basically a father and son drama packaged into an Action Science Fiction Film. It is the story of an Air Force pilot trying to figure out and prevent a Time Paradox from taking effect. Adam with the help of his 12 year old self and his formerly dead father must join forces to prevent his father's work from ruining the timeline.
The Adam Project was directed by Shawn Levy, the man behind "Stranger Things, the Night at the Museum" films and "Real Steel" (IMDB). He is credited for being the "founder and principal of 21 Laps Entertainment." (IMDB). He also directed Free Guy one of Reynolds' most recent films.
There is not much to be said here, Ryan Reynolds is playing Reynolds, I mean 30 year old Air Force Officier and time traveller, Adam and is the main protagonist of the film. As the joke in the first sentence to suggest Reynolds brings his unique form of improv comedy in this film as he does with all his films and delivers another performance of essentially himself confronting the problems of any given film he stars in.
Walker Scobell also stars along side Reynolds as Adam, but if a version of himself from a time period when he was 12. The two work off each other well and show how much the character developed himself from the scrawny 12 year old boy who is bullied in school to the 30 year old Action Hero trying to save his wife and ultimately the timeline.
Mark Ruffalo stars alongside the duo of Adams as their, long dead for Reynolds and recently dead for Scobell, father. The man the Grandfathered the technology for time travel. Enlisted by the pair of his son to help restore and prevent his benefactor from taking fascist control of time.
Rotten Tomatoes has the Adam Project sitting at a "68% on the Tomatometer and the Audience has rated it at "79%". This is from a collection of "158 reviews" from professional movie critics and over "500 user reviews" (Rotton Tomatoes). Below is the site's Critics Consensus on the Adam Project.
CRITICS CONSENSUS: You've seen Ryan Reynolds do this sort of thing before, but The Adam Project offers slickly entertaining -- and occasionally even moving -- sci-fi action.
I found "The Adam Project" to be an excellent Action Sci-Fi film, an excellent coming of age story for young boys and a decent Father/Son Drama. The action wasn't too over the top and the CGI made the elements of of Sci-fi seems believable and the chemistry between the three protagonists was phenomenal, though there were some plot issues and such that kept it from being a masterpiece. On a scale from 1 (being absolute trash) to 10 (being a masterpiece), I would rate "The Adam Project" at a 8 out of 10. The film is enjoyable and fun for all audiences.
On a scale from 1 (being absolute trash) to 10 (being a masterpiece), I would rate "The Adam Project" at a 8 out of 10. The film is enjoyable and fun for all audiences. - Doc Comeau
This was by far the most average part of this film. The story requires the suspension of disbelief already by trying to get you to accept certain fictional technologies and the ability to travel through time being more than a theoretical possibility. Though the science it did use to make the film work wasn't really explained well and took a back seat. This is a major Red flag for a Science fiction film and why I said it was more like a Father/Son, Coming of Age, Comedy Drama with a Sci-fi twist. From here on out there will be spoilers so continue at your own warning.
In this regard the film knocks it out of the park. The young Adam is faced with his own internal issues over the death of his father and how it is affecting him and the people around him through the old Adam literally forcing him to come to terms with what he himself has already learned about himself and his actions growing up without a father. Simultaneously the old Adam is forced to confront his anger towards his father not being in his life through the younger Adam making him remember all the good things his father did he blocked out inordr to blame him instead of grieve.
The father serves as an excellent vehicle for both Adams and how the feel about his absence from their life. Ultimately serving to bring closure and acceptance to both Adams over his death and absence from their life by providing his direct experience of the situation. This helped with the Father/Drama between the father and older Adam and the Coming of Age journey of the young Adam navigating early childhood life with their father.
The comedy aspects will be discussed in the Performances and Dialogue section because I am almost positive it was highly influenced by Reynolds' signature brand of improv comedy. I would give the story a 8 out of 10. The story could have been an 9 out of 10 but the Sci-Fi nerd in me will not forgive the brush over on the actual science part of the film. It does however excell at being a Father/Som Comedy Drama and a Coming of Age story all in one.
I would give the story a 8 out of 10. The story could have been an 9 out of 10 but the Sci-Fi nerd in me will not forgive the brush over on the actual science part of the film. It does however excell at being a Father/Som Comedy Drama and a Coming of Age story all in one. - Doc Comeau
Now this is where the film shined. I am a huge fan of Reynolds' unique signature brand of improv comedy and Scobell and Ruffalo rose up to meet the challenge of keeping up with him. Scobell even keeping up with his roasting of his younger self. Even if time travel wasn't involved and these two were brothers or any number of ways to tell this story the chemistry between the duo is on point.
Now normally I would highlight a certain performance here, but let's be honest Reynolds' always steals the show and there isn't much more to say. Reynolds set the pace and the other actors must follow and keep up with him. This is both a gift and a curse, but they pulled it off here with a cast capable of rising to that challenge.
This may be me fanning out, but I would give this section of the film a 9 out of 10. I can't give it a perfect score because we spent more time with the two Adams than we did with Ruffalo the father. The Father/Son aspect of this film should have been given the same amount of development as the Coming of Age story. Though it's still worth a watch for all moviegoers.
This may be me fanning out, but I would give this section of the film a 9 out of 10. I can't give it a perfect score because we spent more time with the two Adams than we did with Ruffalo the father. - Doc Comeau
This was most average piece of the film. Though only the action and certain scenes contain any CGI effects, they all blended into the film perfectly and felt believable and real despite being elements of Science Fiction. The time traveling, Jet looked and felt like it would actually fly and the advanced gadgets and weapons were not out of the realm of possibility given our current technology level.
Their shots when switching between Reynolds and Scobell were mirrored in some places with a unique attempt to visually show the two characters are essentially the same individual. Even the young Adam is at a time in his life where his dominant personality was established. This worked with the aforementioned performance of the due playing off each other with their roasts and jokes. However, it didn't take any unique chances to get a shot done. It was all textbook standard.
Average Cinematography is not a bad thing combined with the other aspects of a film when they are excellent and work together as did here. However, I was forced to give this section a 7 out 10. As mentioned before, it is textbook standard and I would have like to see something unique.
However, I was forced to give this section a 7 out 10. As mentioned before, it is textbook standard and I would have like to see something unique. - Doc Comeau
This was an effective Action, Science Fiction FIlm, Coming of Age Story and Father/Son comedy Drama and instead of dropping the ball in one or several of these aspects it nails each and every one. As stated above, I think this is a decent film and worth a watch by moviegoers of all ages. I would love to give the credit for the movie's success to Netflix, but we all know Reynolds carries every film he is in as a main star. Thanks for reading and we will see you in the next review.
1) IMDb.com. (2022, March 11). The Adam Project. IMDb. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2463208/
Archived At; https://archive.ph/uaH6t
2) Netflix. (2022, March 11). The Adam Project. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_adam_project
Archived At; https://archive.ph/fqZSX
3) Reynolds, R., Scobell, W., & Ruffalo, R. (2022). The Adam Project. Netflix.
