"Since it came out in March, I have seen nothing but praise for the film, The Adam Project." - Ava rukavina, 9th grade
!!This Article Contains Spoilers for The Adam Project!!
Since it came out in March, I have seen nothing but praise for the film, The Adam Project. Amy Nicholson, a top critic on the Rotten tomatoes shared, “There's nothing as good as Back to the Future, but I think Levy finds the heart to this picture. It really works.” An IMDb user, Calicodreamin commented, “I cried a little, I laughed a little, I had a good time. The storyline is well developed and while a complicated concept it's handled well. The characters are well cast and well acted.” And @straw_hat_goofy, a trusted movie influencer on tiktok, even went as far as to say, “I can not stress this enough, this is one of the best movies of 2022 so far,” I can’t understand it. The movie has nothing but stiff dialogue, sexist tropes, a lousy villain, and an unsatisfying ending.
The Adam Project is set in a dystopian 2050. Adam Reed, played by Ryan Reynolds, steals a time jet to save his wife, Laura, (played by Zoe Saldaña) who is quite literally, stuck in the past. 2018 to be exact. Unfortunately, Adam instead finds himself in 2022 where he runs into everyone’s worst nightmare: his younger self, portrayed by Walker Scobell. The two of them work together to destroy time travel, defeat the power-hungry businesswoman, Maya Sorian (portrayed by Cathrine Keener), and mend their relationships with their family members.
One of the issues I have with The Adam Project is the characters' interactions and reactions. The characters’ response to certain events is completely unrealistic. For example, near the beginning of the film, young Adam finds an unfamiliar man in his shed, whom we later discover, is his future self. The dialogue exchanged between them in no way represents how either party would react in real life. Rather than being confused, scared, or in shock, the two exchange banter. The conversation feels entirely too rehearsed and unnaturalistic. It’s difficult to cite specific instances of this because it exists in almost every line in the film. I understand that this is done for comedic purposes, but it just doesn’t work here.
One of the film's worst failings is how they handle the character of Laura. Adam mentions to his younger self early in the film that she was lost in 2018 and he came looking for her. Laura doesn’t appear on-screen until about halfway through the film. Adam and his younger self are under attack from Sorian’s forces, who have figured out his plan and are trying to return Adam to the future. Suddenly, Laura runs out of the forest surrounding Adam’s house, and assists them as they fight Sorian’s army. She comes out of absolutely nowhere, with no explanation of how she knew the danger they were in. When she’s introduced we learn two things about her: she’s not dead, and she can fight. That’s about it. The audience gains no further understanding of who Laura is in the entirety of the film.
After successfully fending off Sorian’s forces, as well as years of progress in female representation in film, Laura brings Adam and his younger self to a safehouse. In the safe house, she and Adam recconnect. This reconnection is emotional for both characters. Adam says, “I found you,”and they shed tears. The viewer isn’t able to relate to the moment, because, for them, she was never really lost. This moment may not have fallen so flat if the audience had received more context as to who Laura is, or at least had some understanding of the relationship between her and Adam. Not 15 minutes after Laura is introduced, she is killed by the villain, Sorian. Laura exists only for Adam to have motivation to defeat Sorian. Not only is this embarrassingly lazy writing, but killing off the only female character to serve the plot is a sexist and overused trope. Laura is not her own character: she is a prop used to forward the sequence of events.
Speaking of the villain, Maya Sorian’s character is also completely one-dimensional. Her first line of dialogue is at the very beginning of the film, but she doesn’t appear on screen until about halfway through the film. She’s followed Adam to 2022 and commands her soldiers to find him. Other than maybe her thirst for power and money, Sorian has no emotional connection to her cause. There’s no real reason for why she does what she does. She’s committing acts of evil just for the sake of it. She, like Laura, is another female character who only exists to serve the plot.
Another weak characteristic of the movie is that it tries to stuff too many relationships into one film. I can’t tell what’s at the core of it. In the first third of the movie, the focus is on Adam’s relationship with his mother, Ellie, and how her wife’s death tore her and her son apart. In the second, the focus is on Adam’s relationship with his wife, Laura, though honestly it’s more about how he views her and does not at all depict how they function as a couple. And in the last third, the story revolves around the relationship between Adam and his father. The movie doesn’t necessarily fail to provide a satisfying resolution to these relationships; the problem is that there isn’t really a beginning. The audience isn’t shown any of these relationships beyond what they are on the surface. We see many scenes of Adam and the people he loves resolving conflicts. But there are no scenes that establish the state of their relationship before the conflict. Characters can’t develop without a starting point.
After rewatching the movie, I’ve come to the conclusion that it felt like the resolution of something. The finale of a series perhaps. Characters' motives, characteristics, and relationships weren’t well established and the film juggled more plotlines than it could handle. I think a series format would’ve suited this project better. It would have allowed for more time for the project to follow through with all that they wanted to do with this series.
While researching I found that The Adam Project began production in 2012, with Tom Cruise originally set to star. This only made its faults more disappointing because this movie has been in the works for nearly a decade. All and all, it’s not the worst movie ever. It’s just incredibly mediocre.
Since it came out in March, I have seen nothing but praise for the film, The Adam Project. Amy Nicholson, a top critic on the Rotten tomatoes shared, “There's nothing as good as Back to the Future, but I think Levy finds the heart to this picture. It really works.” An IMDb user, Calicodreamin commented, “I cried a little, I laughed a little, I had a good time. The storyline is well developed and while a complicated concept it's handled well. The characters are well cast and well acted.” And @straw_hat_goofy, a trusted movie influencer on tiktok, even went as far as to say, “I can not stress this enough, this is one of the best movies of 2022 so far,” I can’t understand it. The movie has nothing but stiff dialogue, sexist tropes, a lousy villain, and an unsatisfying ending.
The Adam Project is set in a dystopian 2050. Adam Reed, played by Ryan Reynolds, steals a time jet to save his wife, Laura, (played by Zoe Saldaña) who is quite literally, stuck in the past. 2018 to be exact. Unfortunately, Adam instead finds himself in 2022 where he runs into everyone’s worst nightmare: his younger self, portrayed by Walker Scobell. The two of them work together to destroy time travel, defeat the power-hungry businesswoman, Maya Sorian (portrayed by Cathrine Keener), and mend their relationships with their family members.
One of the issues I have with The Adam Project is the characters' interactions and reactions. The characters’ response to certain events is completely unrealistic. For example, near the beginning of the film, young Adam finds an unfamiliar man in his shed, whom we later discover, is his future self. The dialogue exchanged between them in no way represents how either party would react in real life. Rather than being confused, scared, or in shock, the two exchange banter. The conversation feels entirely too rehearsed and unnaturalistic. It’s difficult to cite specific instances of this because it exists in almost every line in the film. I understand that this is done for comedic purposes, but it just doesn’t work here.
One of the film's worst failings is how they handle the character of Laura. Adam mentions to his younger self early in the film that she was lost in 2018 and he came looking for her. Laura doesn’t appear on-screen until about halfway through the film. Adam and his younger self are under attack from Sorian’s forces, who have figured out his plan and are trying to return Adam to the future. Suddenly, Laura runs out of the forest surrounding Adam’s house, and assists them as they fight Sorian’s army. She comes out of absolutely nowhere, with no explanation of how she knew the danger they were in. When she’s introduced we learn two things about her: she’s not dead, and she can fight. That’s about it. The audience gains no further understanding of who Laura is in the entirety of the film.
After successfully fending off Sorian’s forces, as well as years of progress in female representation in film, Laura brings Adam and his younger self to a safehouse. In the safe house, she and Adam recconnect. This reconnection is emotional for both characters. Adam says, “I found you,”and they shed tears. The viewer isn’t able to relate to the moment, because, for them, she was never really lost. This moment may not have fallen so flat if the audience had received more context as to who Laura is, or at least had some understanding of the relationship between her and Adam. Not 15 minutes after Laura is introduced, she is killed by the villain, Sorian. Laura exists only for Adam to have motivation to defeat Sorian. Not only is this embarrassingly lazy writing, but killing off the only female character to serve the plot is a sexist and overused trope. Laura is not her own character: she is a prop used to forward the sequence of events.
Speaking of the villain, Maya Sorian’s character is also completely one-dimensional. Her first line of dialogue is at the very beginning of the film, but she doesn’t appear on screen until about halfway through the film. She’s followed Adam to 2022 and commands her soldiers to find him. Other than maybe her thirst for power and money, Sorian has no emotional connection to her cause. There’s no real reason for why she does what she does. She’s committing acts of evil just for the sake of it. She, like Laura, is another female character who only exists to serve the plot.
Another weak characteristic of the movie is that it tries to stuff too many relationships into one film. I can’t tell what’s at the core of it. In the first third of the movie, the focus is on Adam’s relationship with his mother, Ellie, and how her wife’s death tore her and her son apart. In the second, the focus is on Adam’s relationship with his wife, Laura, though honestly it’s more about how he views her and does not at all depict how they function as a couple. And in the last third, the story revolves around the relationship between Adam and his father. The movie doesn’t necessarily fail to provide a satisfying resolution to these relationships; the problem is that there isn’t really a beginning. The audience isn’t shown any of these relationships beyond what they are on the surface. We see many scenes of Adam and the people he loves resolving conflicts. But there are no scenes that establish the state of their relationship before the conflict. Characters can’t develop without a starting point.
After rewatching the movie, I’ve come to the conclusion that it felt like the resolution of something. The finale of a series perhaps. Characters' motives, characteristics, and relationships weren’t well established and the film juggled more plotlines than it could handle. I think a series format would’ve suited this project better. It would have allowed for more time for the project to follow through with all that they wanted to do with this series.
While researching I found that The Adam Project began production in 2012, with Tom Cruise originally set to star. This only made its faults more disappointing because this movie has been in the works for nearly a decade. All and all, it’s not the worst movie ever. It’s just incredibly mediocre.
