The Adam Project

In 2050, fighter pilot Adam Reed steals a time-traveling jet to find his missing wife, but a malfunction sends him crashing into 2022. There he meets his 12-year-old self, a smart but grieving boy still reeling from the death of their father, physicist Louis Reed. The two Adams must team up to find Louis, whose research is the key to the time-travel technology now controlled by ruthless tech mogul Maya Sorian. Together, they race to repair the jet and stop Sorian from creating a dystopian future.

Directed by Shawn Levy, the film blends science fiction, comedy, and family drama. Ryan Reynolds plays the older Adam with his trademark sarcasm, while Walker Scobell, in his first major role, matches him beat for beat as the younger version. Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner play Adam's parents, bringing warmth and emotional weight. The film is a love letter to 1980s Amblin adventures, mixing high-stakes action with a story about grief, forgiveness, and the bonds that transcend time.[edit]

In the year 2050, Adam Reed is a hotshot fighter pilot and member of a secret resistance movement that has developed time travel technology. The world is on the brink of collapse due to an engineered energy crisis orchestrated by Maya Sorian, a powerful tech mogul. During a risky mission to steal a time-traveling jet, Adam is ambushed and forced to make an emergency jump. He crash-lands in 2022, far from his intended destination.

There, he encounters his 12-year-old self, a bright but still-grieving boy struggling with the recent death of their father, Louis Reed, a brilliant physicist. Young Adam is also dealing with bullies at school and a strained relationship with his mother, Ellie, who is trying to move on after her husband's passing. The older, gruff and cynical Adam is horrified to meet his younger, more vulnerable self. The two clash immediately, with the older one dismissive of the younger’s feelings and the younger one shocked by the man he is destined to become.

Adam reveals the truth about his mission: he was trying to find his wife, Laura, a fellow pilot and resistance member who disappeared on a similar time-travel mission years earlier. He discovers that his father’s past research is the key to the time travel technology Sorian is now using to control the future. The only way to save the future and find Laura is to team up with his younger self and find their father, who is still alive in 2022.

The mismatched duo tracks down Louis Reed. The reunion is emotionally complex: the father is shocked to see his grown son, who harbors deep resentment for Louis’s perceived abandonment of his family for his work. Louis, however, is a gentle, brilliant, and regretful man who explains that his research into time and energy was intended to help humanity, not destroy it. The trio must work together to break into Louis’s old lab, now under Sorian’s control, to retrieve the data needed to repair Adam’s ship and mount a counter-attack. Along the way, the older Adam is forced to confront the pain he has carried since his father’s death, while the younger Adam learns valuable lessons about courage, forgiveness, and the importance of family.[edit]