The film opens with The Spencer Davis Group’s ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ paired with a time-travel spaceship fight, which was a promising start. The action truly is the highlight here and throughout the film, with most of its best moments stemming from the fight sequences. Additionally, it was visually brilliant as it not only included stunning space-related imagery, but it also found a unique way to kill bad guys- when they died, they disintegrated into a colourful mix of glitter and confetti for literally no reasonable explanation. Pretty and brutal!
Zoe Saldana, who plays Adam’s Wife Laura, is in three of the highest grossing films of all time due to her brilliant acting ability and extreme watchability. That said, I found myself forgetting she was in this due to her weak character and lack of screen time. Who would’ve guessed that a film with two Avengers in it, would end up not using them? The mother, Ellie (Jennifer Garner), despite her supposed importance, is also forgettable and disappears after the first act of the film. Arguably the biggest weakness of this film was the villain, who was unthreatening with confusing morals.Watching this gave me a headache at times, but trying to make sense of the time travel? That could give a migraine so bad that you’d be stuck in bed for weeks. Characters constantly feel the need to explain the science which made me more interested in the pretty colours and Ryan Reynolds’ face than the complexity of the plot. The time travel aspect also leaves so many plot holes that by the conclusion, I was thinking “I could’ve sorted all of this an hour ago…”
Overall, The Adam Project was funny and featured some fantastic action, yet was sadly let down by a handful of weak, uninteresting characters, and a predictable yet overly explained plot. It is worth a watch if you have nothing else to do, or if you like to see Ryan Reynolds playing Ryan Reynolds.
2.5/5 stars