The Adam Project – Netflix Review (4/5)

THE ADAM PROJECT on Netflix is a new sci-fi adventure movie for the whole family. With comedy and action alongside a very Spielberg-inspired style, this is a wonderful movie-watching experience. Read our full The Adam Project movie review here!

THE ADAM PROJECT is a new Netflix movie in the sci-fi, action, comedy, and adventure genres. For me, this is a perfect way to introduce younger generations to the sci-fi genre. The subjects covered do also get more serious. However, as it’s the case with many animated Disney/Pixar movies, kids won’t catch on to the darker stuff.

The movie has a very Spielberg-inspired style that really spoke to me. I fall in love with movies and adventure all over again, when I watch a movie like this one. Also, I am a sucker for time travel stories which is a key element!

Continue reading our The Adam Project movie review below and find it on Netflix from March 11, 2022.

Childhood revisited

You know how we always hear those “Childhood ruined” whenever something is revealed that people don’t like?! Usually when someone comes out as gay or something wasn’t exactly how they imagined it was or should be? Yeah, I’m not a fan of that expression.

Instead, I love it when I see something and it brings me back to when I first fell in love with movies. I was a sucker for anything with adventure and heart. Sure, it could have the brutal darkness that Indiana Jones movies had, but adventure, that was my thing. It still is. And that is what The Adam Project delivers on. It truly was a “childhood revisited” kind of moment.

For the record, if you don’t think Indiana Jones movies are dark and brutal, then try watching them with kids. Particularly noticing their reactions when people’s faces start melting or someone plunges their fingers into the chest cavity of a living person and pulls out a still-beating heart. Oh yeah, Indiana Jones was pretty wild in several ways and people seem to forget.

In any case, with The Adam Project, we also have the pleasure of watching Ryan Reynolds as the adult Adam playing across from Walker Scobell as the young Adam. These scenes are pure magic and the casting of Walker Scobell as a young Ryan Reynolds is perfect. I always enjoy watching Ryan Reynolds in anything, so my concern was whether the kid would work as well and he really did. In his debut no less!

Also, we get Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo as Adam’s parents, which is just amazing. And then Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as the wife of future Adam and Catherine Keener (Get Out) as the person in control of time travel (well, sort of, you’ll see). The casting is just immaculate!

The de-aging CGI of Catherine Keener

No matter how much I enjoyed The Adam Project on Netflix – and I really did – we have to talk about the CGI de-aged version of Catherine Keener. The amazing and brilliant Catherine Keener is great in this movie (as always!), so it has nothing to do with her.

However, due to the nature of time travel (and the fact that you can interact with your younger self), we see a de-aged version of Maya Sorian who is also played by Keener. Unfortunately, she looks like something out of a computer game. And not the brand new stuff. More along the lines of what we saw a good ten years ago in computer games. Impressive, but not all that realistic.

To be blunt, it looks terrible. We’ve seen a de-aged Michael Douglas in Ant-Man and we see Mark Hamill in The Book of Boba Fett. Both succeed much better than what we see in The Adam Project. I was actually quite shocked. Especially since all other effects are very impressive.

When the present and future Maya Sorians have to interact, it becomes even more obvious how badly it’s done. I mean, eeek!

So, let me be the first to admit that while I really loved The Adam Project, this particular element did not work. The acting of Catherine Keener is spot-on. Both as the ambitious but kind Maya Sorian as well as the dark and jaded future Sorian. I just know that there are VFX people that will watch those scenes in The Adam Project and be itching to re-work it!

Watch The Adam Project on Netflix!

Shawn Levy is the director behind The Adam Project which marks his second movie starring Ryan Reynolds in a row. They also made Free Guy (2021) together. A movie, I also enjoyed tremendously. Though in a very different way. Shawn Levy has also directed on the Netflix hit series Stranger Things ever since its first season in 2016.

The next feature film Shawn Levy is set to direct is a remake of Starman (1984). Well, it’s been announced that he’ll direct anyway. I absolutely adore the original Starman which was directed by horror master John Carpenter. However, I’m not against remakes when they come almost four decades after the original. Also, I’m curious to see how the next generation can experience this story in a modern remake.

Anyway, getting back to The Adam Project, which is not a remake, it was written by Jonathan Tropper (Warrior), T.S. Nowlin (Pacific Rim: Uprising), Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin. The two latter have worked on several projects together including Journey to the Center of the Earth and Nim’s Island.

Now, when I see that many writers are attached to a screenplay, I tend to get nervous. For this one, it just worked for me. Sure, it could have been a darker movie with less humor. But that isn’t what this is – and it works! Well, if you accept it for what it is, anyway.

Overall, The Adam Project is simply a wonderful movie-watching experience. A perfect introduction to the sci-fi genre for the younger generation and great fun for adults as well. Also, I liked that the ending was optimistic while also staying true to core subjects about dealing with reality. Do not miss out on this one!

The Adam Project is out on Netflix from March 11, 2022.

Details

Director: Shawn Levy
Writers: Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett, Mark Levin
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Walker Scobell, with Catherine Keener, Zoe Saldaña