By Clay Thompson | Reporter
I would normally not watch a film like this: an action sci-fi adventure blockbuster put out by Netflix because — let’s be honest — those kinds of films they make are often hit and miss. However, “The Adam Project” must have done something right because it’s currently sitting on the top ten English-language films list on Netflix according to The Hollywood Reporter.
First, I have to say I loved the laughs in the movie. Every piece of comedy hit home to me. From the time travel jokes to the observational and dark humor, I laughed at every comedic line, especially if they were delivered by Ryan Reynolds — and they often were.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of levity that was in the film, as most action films, except for perhaps Marvel films, balance seriousness with humor terribly.
Next, I’ve got to hand it to Netflix; when they put money behind a project it shows. The visual effects on the film were phenomenal; maybe not “Dune” level, but the future tech and time travel scenes still never looked cheap and kept the fight scenes engaging and cool, as all action films should look. Also, while this was a time travel film, I liked how it subverted a few time travel tropes that would have made it a lot more stale for most audiences.
For the most part, the acting was fairly decent. Zoe Saldana was the standout for me, despite a lack of screen time. She was able to portray her character’s toughness, witty personality and genuine emotions with ease and scary accuracy. Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo do decent jobs in their roles, with Reynolds thriving in his role with the more comedic lines, as he always delivers them well. Acting newcomer Walker Scobell does a pretty good impression of his character’s future self which Reynolds plays as well.
However, despite these good parts about the movie, I ultimately felt it fell into the time travel pitfall for most movies: predictability and cliche. The movie was very predictable, and despite the acting and comedy, it could not redeem itself. Not only was I not interested in the plot because I already knew how it was going to go, but the technological explanations and the time travel mechanics were super cliche and boring as well.
Overall, while Netflix’s “The Adam Project” seems to have found success on the streaming service, I would recommend watching it with a group as it would be much more interesting to talk to other people than watch this film for the plot. Maybe stick around for the jokes though.
