The Biggest Problem Fans Have With The Adam Project
"The Adam Project" has emerged as one of Netflix's biggest hits in recent memory. During its release weekend, viewers spent nearly 100 hours watching the sci-fi action film. All that time wasn't spent in vain, however, as audiences gave the latest Ryan Reynolds project a cool 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while critics' reviews rounded out to a fresh 69%.
The Netflix blockbuster, directed by "Free Guy" helmer Shawn Levy, focuses on Adam (Reynolds), a hotshot pilot from the future who accidentally arrives in the present day. Without other options, he teams up with his younger self (Walker Scobell) to stop time travel from ever being invented. Chasing after them is Maya (Catherine Keener) a businesswoman from the future who profits off of the invention of time travel.
While the film was praised for its engaging, family-oriented storyline and performances from its two leads (via The Guardian), fans of the film have since taken issue with the film's special effects, which they believe ruins the immersive experience.
The Adam Project fans aren't into the film's de-aging effects
Seeing as the villain's younger counterpart appears somewhat prominently in the film, "The Adam Project" de-aged Catherine Keener to make the star look the part. It's a common special effects tactic that has notably been used in "Star Wars" projects like Season 2 of "The Mandalorian" to make Luke Skywalker appear younger.
Unfortunately, fans of Netflix's sci-fi film just can't get behind the dodgy effects used to make Maya appear younger. Fans like Twitter user @YaBoyJeffBlue felt the film's de-aging botched his viewing experience. "The Adam Project and their deaging of Catherine Keener when she meets herself took me right of [the] movie," they wrote. Twitter user @bashful_michael couldn't help but express their confusion over the film's de-aging effects, "Can't get over how badly they botched the deaging of Catherine Keener's character in The Adam Project." The user went on to comically point out how Maya looks like a character from "The Sims."
Letterboxd reviewer HunterGasaway gave the film three stars but couldn't help pointing out how Keener's younger character was upsetting. "Mark Ruffalo is as charming and lovely as CGI Catherine Keener is unsettling and horrifying," they commented. In a thread discussing the film, Reddit user u/BigMacCombo suggested that Keener's special effects were rushed, writing, "I swear digitally de-aged Catherine Keener looked like it was whipped up in 10 minutes using a decade old GPU."
Hopefully Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy can get the special effects right for their next project, "Deadpool 3."