The year is 2022. Deadpool is married to Gamora. His dad, the Hulk, has invented time travel. His mom, Elektra, would do anything to make sure he feels loved. All is right with the world. At least it probably would be if superheroes really existed.
Fresh off of Free Guy, director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds have reunited to bring an adventurous, buddy-cop take to the time travel genre with The Adam Project, based off a 2012 screenplay by T.S. Nowlin that has since been updated by Jonathan Tropper, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin. One way The Adam Project differs from its time travel movie predecessors as far back as Back to the Future and as recent as Tenet and Avengers: Endgame, is in how it freely mixes up the usual time travel rules.
Ryan Reynolds plays an ace time jet pilot named Adam Reed who accidentally lands in 2022 and meets his 12-year-old self (newcomer Walker Scobell). Normally, these types of movies would work hard to sidestep the paradox of past meeting future by forcing the protagonist to avoid alternate versions of themselves. But The Adam Project makes this head-scratching equation part of the plot, since he’ll need his younger self to essentially save the future.
The Adam Project also boasts an all-star cast. Zoe Saldaña plays Adam’s time-lost partner, Catherine Keener is the simmering villain, and Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo get a 13 Going on 30 reunion as Adam’s parents. Scobell is the surprising standout, however, in his first-ever role, absolutely nailing Reynolds’ signature sarcasm and over-the-top banter. While the two play the older and younger versions of each other, their scenes read more like a relationship between siblings who happen to have a significant age gap.
Despite the film beginning 28 years in the future and taking place primarily in the present, it has an incredibly nostalgic sci-fi family movie feel to it with themes echoing the 1980s with lines directly referencing Back to the Future and Star Wars. It isn’t as entertaining as either film, however, and some of its de-aging CGI is somehow worse than Luke Skywalker in season 2 of The Mandalorian, but that’s a topic for another day.
The Adam Project is Looper for families, or rather it’s wholesome in a Ryan Reynolds kind of way. It has a few vulgar jokes here and there, but not enough to make it inappropriate for the average pre-teen. It’s exactly what you’d hope for from a streaming-exclusive movie about traveling from the future to the present without anything much more unrealistic than that.
The Adam Project is now available to stream on Netflix. Watch the official trailer here.
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