The Adam Project is a 2022 American science-fiction action comedy film produced by Skydance Media, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment for the Netflix streaming service. It was directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Addison Tusing, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener and Zoe Saldaña.
Production on the film first began in 2012 with Tom Cruise attached to star. The film then fell into development hell until Netflix acquired the distribution rights. Filming commenced in November 2020 and wrapped in March 2021. The Adam Project began a limited "one night only" theatrical release on March 9, 2022 followed by its digital release on Netflix on March 11. The film received mixed reviews with praise for the performances, action sequences, visual effects, and its inspiration from movies of the 1980s, as well as criticism for the writing and storyline.
PLOT
Due to a safety feature preventing him from flying because of his injuries, Adam must bring along the younger Adam and use his DNA to enter his jet. They both are soon attacked by Maya Sorian, the leader of the dystopian world, and her assistant Christos, but are saved by Laura, who had faked her death and stayed off-grid in an unknown location. After surviving the attack and comparing notes, Laura and the Adams realize that after the invention of time travel by Louis and his subsequent death, Sorian had monopolized the discovery. During her visit to 2018, Laura learned Sorian frequently came and advised her past self in order to secure her future wealth and power. To protect her secret, Sorian ordered Laura's death. Although Laura survived the assassination attempt, destruction of her time jet left her stranded in the past. The sudden arrival of Sorian's goons interrupts the reunion, and Laura fights off the attack long enough for the two Adams to escape to 2018.
In 2018, the Adams meet Louis in an attempt to enlist his help, but their father refuses any assistance out of concern for the effect on the time stream. That night, Sorian meets and warns her past self about Adam. Meanwhile, the Adams share their common feelings about their father in a motel. The next day, they both set off to destroy the time travel machine. On arrival at Sorian Technologies, they are attacked by Sorian's soldiers, but are unexpectedly saved by Louis, who has changed his mind and agrees to guide them. Louis reveals that destroying the machine will not destroy time travel as long as Sorian has his algorithm with all the math and constraints to control the process. Meanwhile, 2050 Sorian captures the younger Adam.
Although Louis and 2050 Adam remove a memory unit with the algorithm, both Sorians arrive and threaten 2022 Adam as leverage to coerce Louis into surrendering the algorithm. 2050 Adam stalls and allows 2022 Adam to escape from Sorian by pushing her gun away, but an errant bullet damages the seal restraining the electromagnetic field, causing it to grow to limitless values. The Reeds try as much as they can to stop them, but the older Sorian threatens to kill Louis. Adam warns that her bullets are armor-piercing, but Louis remains adamant. Seeing no other way, Sorian shoots at Louis, but the path of the bullet is altered by the electromagnetic field and hits 2018 Sorian instead, killing her and wiping both Sorians out of existence.
The Reeds barely manage to escape the facility's implosion and reach home, where they reconcile by playing a game of catch before the Adams return to their respective times. In 2022, the younger Adam lives in a new timeline where he never got suspended, has let go of his anger, and gives his mother a hug via an "echo". Sometime in the future, an older and much happier Adam meets Laura during a flight training lecture where she realizes, to Adam's amusement, she has entered the wrong building on the campus. Adam offers to walk her to her building, stating that he has got time, and they depart together.
