Shawn Levy reteams with Ryan Reynolds for Netflix’s time-travel adventure The Adam Project, after previously directing the uber-fun Free Guy. To put it to a simple sci-fi test, consider that this is a family-friendly entertainment in which Reynolds reprises his role as Deadpool, for obvious reasons.
Levy makes references to everything from Star Wars to some of the most well-known time-travel films, with mixed effects. While the jokes aren’t always funny, one can’t help but smile when Reynolds’ fast-talking, the bring-down-the-house mentality is applied to his adorable ways.
Furthermore, The Adam Project is occasionally moving, but unabashedly ludicrous in its sci-fi leanings, resulting in a storyline that is both infantile and familiar. It doesn’t help that the picture keeps shoving its concept of ‘catastrophic occurrences’ down our throats due to the protagonists’ time travel.
In any case, it’s a watchable film that might make for a terrific double bill with some of the finest time-travel (or otherwise) films on our list. Make sure to leave a comment with your suggestions for other great time travel stories in films that you like the most.
Midnight Special (2016)
Midnight Special is a must-see film for lovers of The Adam Project because of its dark blue visual palette, father-son bonding themes, and grandiose feeling of mysterious sci-fi adventure. Alton (Jaeden Martell), a young child with unexplained supernatural talents, is on the run from a deadly cult and government forces aiming to steal Alton’s powers in this PG-13 sci-fi thriller.
As a result, the boy’s father must find a method to safeguard his kid by whatever means necessary in this incredible father-son bonding experience that demonstrates the lengths to which a father will go to defend his son.
Donnie Darko (2001)
After Jake Gyllenhaal’s titular unhappy child narrowly escapes a bizarre accident, he is haunted by visions of a 6-foot-tall rabbit named Frank telling him that the world will end in 28 days. Don’t worry if you don’t fully get this time-bending picture; neither do its actors. The film’s puzzling concluding moments add to its allure.
The Terminator (1984)
It would be a travesty for me to talk about time-travel action adventures without mentioning James Cameron’s career-defining moment in The Terminator. The notion of a person being sent back in time to prevent something from happening in the future has become old, but Cameron’s The Terminator gave the ridiculous premise of a hands-on reworking.
Shawn Levy’s The Adam Project, like The Terminator, incorporates time travel and the formation of hidden resistance, and the birth of a renegade. The fact that Levy makes repeated comparisons to Cameron’s film with references left and right is justification enough to screen it alongside The Terminator.
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame will be talked about for decades as probably the most important film ever created. In terms of overall gross, it may not be the best.
In some ways, Avengers: Endgame is comparable to The Adam Project in that it includes time travel. The Avengers’ ability to travel across time helps them to save everyone from the consequences of Thanos’ actions during Avengers: Infinity War. In that case, you might want to see this movie after seeing Infinity War and all of the previous Avengers films.
See You Yesterday (2019)
High schooler C.J. Walker (Eden Duncan-Smith) uses a backpack time machine to stop her brother from being killed by a police officer in this Spike Lee-directed thriller. However, changing the course of history has unforeseeable effects that no scientist can predict.
While I’m not a fan of the wacky science-fiction elements of The Adam Project, the notion of collaborating with a younger self in time to rescue or destroy something valuable is what makes me want to suggest it. In comparison to films like The Adam Project, Looper exploits the premise of time travel to communicate more fundamental things about human beings and their methods of survival.