I like Ryan Reynolds. He’s fun. He has uniquely quick-witted comic timing, an extremely useful secret weapon for a movie star built for action heroism with a side order of wiseacre. Also, he can well up during sincere bull’s-eye moments in ways that rival anything in anime.
I wish I liked “The Adam Project” the same way I like Ryan Reynolds. It’s fun-ish. It’s an efficiently packed time-waster that doesn’t take up much of your life (about 90 minutes without the end credits). This will not hurt its Netflix numbers any.
It has heart, wisecracks, grieving and plentiful PG-13 violence with cool weapons from the year 2050 that make people crystallize and go away. It name-checks and/or pilfers from “Back to the Future,” “The Terminator” and “Star Wars,” the last one courtesy of a lightsaber knockoff inspired by the George Lucas toy emporium. The movie has a good shot at a huge streaming audience. But does it have the creative instincts of a good movie? An OK one, yes. It’s too bad “The Adam Project” is only that, since the cast isn’t dogging the assignment for a second.
