‘The Adam Project’ is a sci-fi film based on Adam (Ryan Reynolds), who returns in time from 2050 to correct certain events that affected his timeline. It is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
In 2050, Adam, a fighter pilot, is being chased by futuristic space ships. Having been wounded by someone, he desperately opens up a wormhole and escapes back in time to 2022.
In this time period, a younger Adam (Walker Scobell) is struggling to come to grips with the demise of his father, Louis Reed (Mark Ruffalo), in an accident one year ago. He keeps acting like a jerk with his mother, Ellie Reed (Jennifer Garner).
He comes across the wounded Adam and, after initial concern, realises that he is the same; an older version of him.
Old Adam informs him that he had to escape his own timeline in order to protect himself. His wife, Laura (Zoe Saldana) was last seen returning to 2018 and hasn’t been traced since.
His original plan was to return in time to 2018 but accidentally landed in 2022. He shows young Adam his spaceship, which Old Adam is unable to activate with DNA matching due to injury, but young Adam can.
Old Adam tells him that he needs to travel to 2018 before their father’s old business partner, Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener) finds him.
He reveals that in his timeline, Sorian has full control over time. She and Louis were the ones to invent time travel, and after his death, she was the sole owner.
They are attacked by Sorian and her henchmen, but Laura arrives just in time and saves thme. As they’re chased, they come up with a plan.
Laura will stay back and distract Sorian, while the two Adams can return in time to 2018 and change whatever happened.
Sorian finds Laura and kills her. She is hot on the Adams’ heels, however, they manage to travel back in time.
If you have any doubts about the ending, here’s a full breakdown.
The Adam Project ending explained in detail:
Reunion
Louis is taking a class in 2018. The old Adam shows up as a student, and, after class, Louis is able to recognise him as his own son.
He even meets the young Adam, and while initially surprised, he is debriefed about the situation in the future and how Sorian returned to the past to advise the younger version of herself on buying the right shares, making her unstoppable in the future.
The young Adam is overjoyed at the chance of meeting his father again, while the old Adam seems a bit disgruntled and believes that Louis did not give them enough time during childhood.
Fully aware of the consequences of meddling with the future, Louis tells them he won’t be a part of their plan and they need to return to their respective timelines.
Clearly affected by the words of the old Adam, he returns home to ask his wife if he has been a bad father and husband.
She responds that while he isn’t there a lot of the time, it doesn’t make him a bad person. The fact that whenever he is available, he is fully there, is enough for them.
The young Adam also confronts Old Adam and claims that he shut down his emotions for his father because he died. He forgot how, no matter how tired, Louis was always fully there when he played catch with Adam.
Protect the timeline
The two Adams go to the base where Louis and Maya are experimenting with the magnetic reactor named ‘The Adam Project’ that results in the invention of time travel.
While the old Adam attempts to break in, the young Adam has his back with a futuristic gaming-style weapon.
Just when the old Adam is about to be taken out, Louis arrives and saves him by crashing his car into the assailant.
Louis and Adam go inside and remove the hard drive to stop the machine. However, the young and old Sorian arrive with the young Adam as a hostage.
To make matters worse, one of the bullets hits the reactor’s glass and it shatters, causing it to go haywire.
Just as the old Sorian is about to kill Louis with a bullet, it instead gets sucked toward the magnetic reactor and, with the young Sorian in its way, kills her instead, putting an end to both versions of her.
Louis tells the two Adams that he knew the core of the bullet was metallic and it sometimes pays off to be the nerd. The three safely escape the building.
A new future
In an absolute tearjerker moment, Louis tells both his kids that he loves them no matter what and he never meant to upset them.
With the future now fixed, the two Adams could disappear at any moment. Before that happens, the three go to the house and play catch together for one last time. When Louis picks up the ball after a loose throw, the two have vanished.
With the timeline now corrected, the two Adams still show signs of subconsciously remembering their adventure.
The young Adam remembers to hug his mother, who the old Adam told him was also suffering and he needed to appreciate her more.
In the end, the old Adam and Laura meet in a class, just as they originally did, and Adam tells her he “found her”, just as he had claimed he would back in 2022 before they separated.
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