Okay kids, time to disrupt some narratives. I know the story we’re telling ourselves is ‘The Adam Project’ sucked. Instead, let’s talk about why The Adam Project contains enough positives to be considered as one of the great moments in storytelling.
“What, are you crazy?” No, I’m quite serious. I came to the movie with low expectations. Online reviewers called The Adam Project ‘cheesy,’ ‘cliched, predictable, etc.’ Some went so far as to call TAP ‘a steaming pile of turd.’ I gave it my standard ‘twenty minute test’ – where the movie has twenty minutes to capture my attention. This adventure comedy hits all the right notes to warm your jaded scifi heart. I know this, because that’s what the Adam Project did for me.
What’s to love about The Adam Project? Simple. First and foremost, it’s a ‘cute movie,’ as my cousin, rest in peace, used to say. This was her term to define those rare movies that serves as a perfect alternative to families who can’t get next to raunch and violence, and also can’t sit for another dopey kid’s movie. The Adam Project has a TON of things going for it – that’s why it’s one of the great moments in storytelling. Let me count the ways:
First, Director Shawn Levy understood something intrinsic about a classic sci-fi movie and refused to listen to hateful nerds who said otherwise: It’s about emotional consistency, stupid. That’s right, folks – arguing that scifi must be ‘technically accurate’ over everything else has never worked for anyone except maybe … Interstellar, Wall-E and The Martian. Great movies, to be sure, but in a world of Class D Flawless diamonds, sometimes you have to be happy you got a Class E or F. Perfection is the enemy of good, folks.
And to be clear, The Adam Project is not perfect. It’s just a good movie, it’s got great storytelling. That’s the second thing you can love: TAP gave us several awesome lightsaber battles without a lightsaber; it gave us a speeder bike chase with no speeder bikes. I can’t help but appreciate that. Plus, that house-in-the-woods fight scene? Not gonna lie, I thought it was executed with the same level of detail and motion as a 90s-era Jackie Chan film.
Third, The Adam Project’s character arcs were realistic enough that you found yourself rooting for young Adam to figure out what it took older Adam a lifetime to figure out. Not only that, they exploited the time-travel McGuffin to have one of those deep Freudian conversations with your own Id to arrive at what you need to know about yourself. I found it touching that both characters could help each other understand what they were missing about themselves.
Fourth, TAP doesn’t take itself too seriously. Nobody’s above a butt-kicking in this movie, there are no perfect characters. There are no perfect explanations. There is only good.
Two hours later, I realized that the negative reviews of The Adam Project had missed the point of the movie. In fact, you have to wonder if the negativity is simply projection coming from the insecurities of people who have made ‘crapping on new science fiction’ as their personality. You all know how I feel about that.
Wrapping up, The Adam Project was a cute, scifi action comedy. Do you understand how rare that is? Classics like the Goonies, the first three Star Wars movies, Back to the Future did this, but few current movies do. Everything is boxed into tight, demographically-controlled boxes designed to maximize profit. The Adam Project blurs those boundaries and it was a joy to watch. Good for Shawn Levy. If you haven’t given TAP a chance yet, do yourself a favor and give it the twenty-minute test.
