“The Adam Project,” directed by Shawn Levy, is a science fiction film that lets its engaging dialogs and an emotionally pickled narrative do the heavy lifting. Humor is Ryan Reynolds’ strong suit, but this time he gets some strong competition from his 13-year-old co-actor, Walker Scobell. In many instances, you find the duo having a conversation, and every time it leaves you in splits. The presence of the prolific Mark Ruffalo adds a garnish to an already appetizing platter.
The best thing about “The Adam Project” is that it never enters the pretentious zone. It totally understands the audience it is catering to and delivers effectively. Many times we have witnessed that a commercial sci-fi neither enters the scientific nitty-gritties nor does it emphasize on the human element. So somewhere, it lies in the buffer zone, becoming inconspicuous eventually with time. When we say “a light-hearted comedy,” it is often taken as a criticism by many. But if done properly, that lightheartedness has the potential to turn into a fond memory over a period of time. The peppy tunes playing in the background of a vehement action sequence are proof that the film exactly knows the execution-style it is vouching for.
“The Adam Project” might be termed a popcorn flick lacking any intellectual depth, but it refrains from becoming a burlesque act and never feels like an absurd exaggeration. One might say Ryan Reynold’s characters have a patented quality of being abrasive on the outside and empathetic on the inside kind of attributes, but it ceases to become mundane, and I think that is what matters. Yes, the actor could be questioned for the repetitive and formula-driven choices that he makes, but what you cannot say is the fact that the performance lacks fervor. A ramshackle scientist, wanting to crack the code for time travel, is something that is not unique in its entirety, but again, the impassioned and sarcastic dialogues glossed by a faint cynicism give it a refreshing feel.
See More: ‘The Adam Project’ Review: A Snarky Sci-Fi Which Works When It Is Sincere
‘The Adam Project’ Plot Summary
Twelve-year-old Adam Reed is left alone at home with his dog, Hawking, when his mother goes on a date. He hears some noise coming from outside, and goes out to find a injured man sitting in the garage. A revelation was made without wasting any time that the man was, in fact, Adam himself, but from the year 2050. This big Adam from the future had come down to the year 2022 for a reason, which he does not reveal at first, as he says it’s classified. Eventually, we get to know that he had come searching for his wife, Laura, who he believed was stuck in the year 2018. He had stolen a jet and was being chased when he put in the coordinates. In the chaos, he didn’t have the time to double-check the coordinates, and by mistake, he landed in the year 2022.
Adam from the future realizes that the jet won’t read his DNA since he was injured. He tells his junior self that in the year 2050, these Time Jets were coded to people’s DNA, and only the person whose DNA was linked could fly in them. He uses junior Adam to start his jet as they do have the same DNA.
Adam, from the future, was being chased by a woman named Maya Sorian, who happened to be his dad’s partner. Why his dad’s partner wanted to hunt his future self down was still unknown to junior Adam. Things start getting clear when Maya Sorian attacks once again in the present timeline, and out of nowhere, Adam’s wife, Laura, comes to the rescue.
Major Spoilers Ahead
What Did Adam’s Wife Laura Tell Him About Maya Sorian?
“Fixed time” was that one place where an individual belonged on a quantum level. Laura had made the jump from her fixed time to the year 2018 for some unknown reasons. She says that she found an anomaly in the jump logs and wanted to see what had happened. A time jet was returning from the year 2018, but the astonishing thing was that no one ever flew to 2018. So someone had changed the time stream, and so the future, from where the jet had left initially, had already been changed. Adam was told that Laura’s jet was broken on the reentry, but he never believed it, as she had the top reentry statistics in their whole program. Laura’s speculation was that Maya Sorian came back to 2018 as Adam’s father had made a breakthrough with his magnetic particle accelerator. Maya Sorian wanted to give her younger self the intel about the future. Laura feels that the tips might have been concerning where to make investments and how to amass wealth.
She tells Adam to go back to 2018 and destroy this whole invention of time travel, as that was the only way they could stop Maya Sorian. But that would also mean that everything they had with each other would end, considering they met in the time travel program itself. Laura feels that even if the events get reversed, and the time stream is corrected, a transcendental echo stays with the person, and she is hopeful they will meet again.
‘The Adam Project’ Ending Explained: Is Adam Able To Stop Maya Sorian?
Both young and old Adam take a jump to 2018 and meet their father, Louis Reed. They became nostalgic as Louis Reed had died, and seeing him once again in 2018 was like reliving all those fond memories. They tell him that his partner, Maya Sorian, would betray him and that his theories would eventually lay the foundation of time travel. Louis is more worried about the divergence their presence would cause, and asks them to go away. The sons, especially the elder Adam, had a lot of complaints from their father. Adam couldn’t take his father’s death. Instead of being sad, he camouflaged his feelings with anger. It was always easier for him to say something abrasive rather than shed a tear.
Adam decides to invade Maya Sorian’s facility and destroy the magnetic particle accelerator. Louis Reed joins the party and tells them that if they destroy the accelerator, then Sorian would just rebuild it. Instead, if they could dismantle ISPCA (Infinitely Shifting Plasma Containing Algorithm), an algorithm present in the neuromorphic processor that helped in stabilizing the wormholes, then the machine would be devoid of its brain and henceforth wouldn’t be functional. Louis Reed successfully takes out the hard drive. Just then, Maya Sorian, arrives on the scene, with the younger Adam in her captivity, and her younger self from 2018 by her side.
What follows is a scuffle where Louis Reed and his sons fight the enemies. Maya shoots at Louis Reed as he refuses to give her the hard drive. The electromagnetic waves pull the bullet in another direction, killing Maya Sorian from the 2018 timeline. As soon as that happens, even the one from the year 2050 shatters into pieces and dies. The time travel machinery was destroyed even before it came into existence. The mission is successful, and both Adams return to their respective timelines.
Louis Reed stops his sons from telling him how he died, and the younger Adam gives a tight hug to his mom as he remembers what his older self had once told him. The elder Adam still meets Laura in a class, and feels that same echo that Laura had once talked about.
“The Adam Project” is a 2022 science fiction drama film directed by Shawn Levy. The film is predictable by all measures but still brings a distinctiveness due to its entertaining screenplay and great comic timing.
