‘I spent 30 years trying to get away from the me that was you...’
I have followed Ryan Reynolds career ever since his days as Van Wilder. Watching him become perhaps the most bankable movie star in the world has been bittersweet for me. A little like when you’re favourite band get big and you have to resist the insidious urge to tell everyone that you loved them before you were famous. His ascent has also been bittersweet because I know what he is capable of as an actor. Sure, I enjoyed Deadpool and Free Guy as much as the next man, but I also know that Reynolds can be so much more than just the cocky, funny character. His early career is littered with strong performances in indie movies and horror films, and throughout his meteoric rise, I have longed to see a Reynolds performance to match that early intensity. With The Adam Project, I finally have my wish…
After accidentally crash landing in 2022, time traveller, pilot and man-on-the-run Adam Reed (Reynolds) must avenge the death of his girlfriend Laura (Zoe Saldana), stop his errant father (Mark Ruffalo) from inventing time travel and teach his younger self (Walker Scobell) how to stick up for himself and how to properly care for their mother (Jennifer Garner). Pursuing Adam through time and space is Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) – a kind of evil Elon Musk for the time travel era.
Teaming up once again with director Shawn Levy (the man behind Free Guy), Reynolds is able to channel his range as a dramatic actor for a film that is as much of a big hearted tear jerker as it is a sci-fi time travel romp. Sure, the action set pieces hit hard and often, but the inspired casting of Ruffalo as the Reed patriarch ensures that the scenes shared between young and old Adam and their father are genuinely heart-warming. Garner also brings a huge amount of emotional gravitas to her motherly role whilst reminding everyone why she was once one of the most sought after actresses on the planet.
Elsewhere, Catherine Keener is less convincing as the antagonist, not quite capturing the more sinister part of her character required to make her a truly memorable villain, but The Adam Project is all about Reynolds, Ruffalo and Scobell and the bond that they share onscreen. Sure, I watched this movie on the way home from a holiday of hard drinking and hard eating (mainly the latter), but I was shocked at how much this silly film about time travel touched me.
It seems that the only way to get an expensive non MCU or DCEU movie made these days is if it stars either Reynolds or Dwayne Johnson. Well, if that is to be the case, then we can at least rest easy in the knowledge that we are in safe hands with Ryan Reynolds. Safe, beautiful hands.