The Adam Project Synopsis: After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with his 12-year-old self (Walker Scobell) for a mission to save the future.
Have you ever endured a film that seemed to have all the right pieces, yet none of them quite clicked together? Enter director Shawn Levy with his next easily digestible blockbuster, The Adam Project. For Netflix, the streamer’s latest attempts at conjuring big-budget thrills on the small screen never escape its factory-assembled construction.
Levy, the helmer behind studio-friendly hits like Night at the Museum and Free Guy, knows how to craft a competent feature. Every frame bustles with sleek craftsmanship and an array of star-studded A-listers, breezily passing along while incorporating a slew of agreeable homages to its beloved science-fiction counterparts. Levy and the screenwriters (Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, and Jennifer Flackett) also attempt to infuse emotional undertones as the two Adams explore their complicated family bonds. When spurts click together, The Adam Project emanates the type of feel-good energy ripped straight out of 80’s crowdpleasing staples like E.T. and The Goonies.
Unfortunately, Levy and the company fail to bolster their promising core. The Adam Project never infuses its time-honored tenants with new ideas or creative upgrades. The general familiarity dilutes the experience into a soulless amalgam of other projects – one that feels more like a consumable product than a thoughtfully constructed project.
Even the cast, which includes Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana, and Catherine Keener, is left in the dust as they reenact their typical movie star shtick. Everyone seems to be hitting the right beats, but none of the performances or material features the ingenuity to breathe new life into the stale formula.
The Adam Project showcases Netflix vying for another blockbuster franchise without understanding what makes films of this elk flourish. If you are looking for an easy-going romp, I’d recommend the star-studded caper Red Notice instead.