Pathos and action are found in equal parts in “
The Adam Project,” the latest attempt by Netflix
to create the kind of throwback blockbuster that
you might have paid to see in movie theaters.
Starring Ryan Reynolds as a time traveling
pilot and directed by Shawn Levy, the movie
takes the old cliche about what you’d tell your
younger self and adds PG-13 snark, space
action, “Guardians of the Galaxy” energy, a
megalomaniac businesswoman, a dead father
and a lost love to the mix. And it’s pretty
satisfying popcorn fare with some genuinely
affecting beats. All that’s missing is some
Harry Chapin.
This is a project that has been around for
a decade — at one point Tom Cruise was
attached. But it languished in development and
rewrites (there are four screenwriters credited
and Jonathan Tropper is the last to have touched
it) until Netflix acquired it and in less than two
years it’s a finished product.
In “The Adam Project,” we’re introduced to
a 40-something Adam (Reynolds) in the
middle of a space chase. He’s quick-witted and
unflappable, so it’s supposed to be jarring to cut
back to see middle school Adam (Walker Scobell
in his debut) as the little guy with the big mouth
who is prone to getting in fights and losing.
Adam and his mom (Jennifer Garner) are
hanging on by a thread in the year after they lost
his dad (Mark Ruffalo) in an accident. But before
things get too real, adult Adam shows up in the
past at their house and breaks all the known
time travel rules when he accidentally runs into
young Adam. This is a movie universe in which
“Back to the Future 2” exists.