Review: The Adam Project
Shawn Levy has found his next actor/director collaboration in Ryan Reynolds, after working frequently with Steve Martin and Ben Stiller. The duo worked on Free Guy together, which led to great box-office success, and will soon begin production on Deadpool 3, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (oddly enough, Free Guy contained an MCU reference that could’ve acted as Levy’s audition for the third Deadpool film). Their middle chapter in the Reynolds/Levy trilogy is The Adam Project, a sci-fi/time travel adventure film that is quite fun to watch, even if it’s not without flaws.
In 2050, fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) attempts to travel to 2018 in the hopes of finding his wife, Laura (Zoe Saldaña), who was killed by Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) during that year. However, he accidentally lands in 2022 and meets his past self (Walker Scobell), who is currently living with his mother (Jennifer Garner) currently coping with the loss of their father (Mark Ruffalo). Sorian finds Adult Adam living with Kid Adam, and both of them escape to 2018 to now find their father, who they believe is the key to destroying time travel so that Sorian never gains control of time. What they don’t know is that Sorian has been talking to her past self, already one step ahead of the game and breaking every conceivable time travel rule in order to control the future.
There’s very much an Old Biff/Young Biff from Back to the Future: Part II dynamic between the two Sorians. The only difference is that, instead of makeup, the filmmakers here use de-aging/deepfake technology that’s both extremely unnatural and unsettling. Remember that terrible deepfake Luke Skywalker during the penultimate episode of The Book of Boba Fett? Think that, times 100. Keener’s digital double feels like a PS2-created video-game character come to life. And, the two Keeners virtually have no chemistry together. The (real) actress is quite ridiculous already as the main antagonist, but whenever the film cuts to the younger version of the character, any attempt at personality gets stripped in favor of lifeless CGI and robotic movements, as if the character was completely digitized as opposed to plastering a younger face on a body double. It doesn’t work and results in some disconcerting sequences.
The antagonist doesn’t work. Her motivations are incredibly paper-thin, and any sequence she has with her “young” counterpart fails at bringing any form of character development and emotional investment. Keener is a great actress, but her talents are unfortunately wasted here. The same can be said for Zoe Saldaña and Jennifer Garner who are barely in the movie and fail to make an impression. Garner shares a heartfelt scene with Reynolds’ adult Adam but doesn’t do much afterward. The same thing happens with Saldaña, who gets introduced during one of the film’s numerous action sequences, only for her to disappear twenty minutes later. Both characters could’ve been completely cut out from the film and have no change in the film’s story. It’s a shame that the movie wastes most of its talented actors and actresses in surface-level roles that add nothing to the story and the film’s emotional stakes.
The relationship between the three main characters, Young Adam, Adult Adam, and Adam’s father, is far more well-developed, and they have incredible chemistry together. It’s incredible to see Walker Scobell have the same tone as adult Reynolds in his lines as if he knew exactly how Reynolds acted as a kid. As soon as they meet, the screen lights up and the film becomes more engaging in that regard. Ruffalo is the film’s later addition, but his heart shines through his entire performance, shares many impactful sequences with Walker and Scobell, and adds much-needed weight during the film’s CGI-driven action sequences.
Most of the action scenes are well-shot and fairly kinetic, which fall in line with Levy’s fast-paced style seen in Free Guy. But like that movie, its third act starts to envelop itself in a pool of bland (and lifeless) CGI that makes any attempt at high stakes feel weightless. However, aside from the final act and the deepfake Catherine Keener, it’s worth noting that most of the VFX-heavy shots in the film’s earlier action sequences are some of Netflix’s very best. Though it probably would’ve worked better if the film was playing in theaters than exclusively released on the streaming service.
Without Reynolds, Scobell, and Ruffalo, The Adam Project would’ve been another piece of “content” dumped by Netflix and immediately forgotten about a week or so later. But their performances add much-needed heart and emotional levity to the film’s underdeveloped stakes and deepfake-conceived characters. Most of its action sequences are fun and vibrant, and its choice of rock-driven needle-drops kick major ass. Its antagonist and side characters are amazingly underdeveloped, which hinder most of the characters’ natural progression. However, it isn’t much of a problem in the film’s bigger picture. Is Shawn Levy the right choice to make Deadpool 3? He’s definitely got the eye for creative action sequences, and has a good relationship with Reynolds, but underdeveloped antagonists are the MCU’s Achilles heel, so I’m not entirely convinced he’s the right person for the job. But who knows? He may surprise us, just as he’s surprised me with The Adam Project.
