The Adam Project

In the year 1950, a fighter pilot is in the  process of stealing a jet while dealing with   a bleeding wound on his waist. There are other  jets chasing and shooting at him, so regardless   of the jet AI's warnings that his movements can be  traced, he opens a wormhole to make a jump before   getting caught. In 2022, asthmatic twelve-year-old  Adam Reed is being beaten up by bullies again.   This is something that happens often to him  because of his big sassy mouth that easily   offends anyone around him. His recently-widowed  mother Ellie Reed often has to leave work just to   come to talk to the principal and get him out of  trouble, although today, no matter what she says,   she can't prevent him from getting a suspension.  Their relationship has been tense since his father   died a year ago, and Ellie is trying her best to  stay strong for her son, but it's hard to cope   when he keeps on responding to all her worries  with more sass. That night, after Ellie leaves   on her first date since her husband died, Adam's  playing videogames on a custom console with the   company of his dog Hawking when suddenly, the  power goes out. Something must've happened because   Hawking begins barking and runs into the woods,  so Adam has no choice but to follow - that is,   after grabbing a flashlight and a bat just in  case. What he finds there is quite shocking:   a bunch of trees are missing their tops and ashes  are falling down, as something had breathed fire   on them. When noises start coming from deep into  the woods, Adam and Hawking run back to the house,   but they can hear noises around here too. Hawking  runs to the old shack they keep behind the house   and is surprised to find the bleeding pilot there  with Hawking comfortably resting on his lap.   This guy has some weird questions for Adam,  like his age and who his mom is dating tonight,   he also has a big mouth that answers Adam's sass  with more sass. After easily taking the bat from   Adam and throwing it away, the pilot enters the  main house to get some food and clean his wound.   He refuses to answer any of Adam's questions,  saying it's all classified, but he also shows   some weird knowledge: he knows the trick to  close the fridge, knows Adam's name, birthday,   and lots of other personal information, they share  the same scar on their chin, and he's also wearing   the same watch that used to belong to his dad. The  conclusion is obvious: this guy is also Adam, but   from the future. As they go back into the woods,  Big Adam explains he was trying to go to 2018,   but for some reason he landed here. He  needs to go back as soon as possible,   but his jet -which is what cut the treetops-  won't clear him to fly because of his injury.   Since it is activated through a DNA scan,  he asks Little Adam to press the button,   which finally gets the jet working again. Big  Adam programs it to start repairing itself,   which will take some time since it's  only working at 50% capacity. Little   Adam still has tons of questions though, like  the possibility of the multiverse existing, but   Big Adam explains that he'll have this childhood  memory of meeting himself once he returns to his   own time and his memories reconcile. Big Adam  will spend the night on the couch in the shack,   occasionally looking at a picture of his wife  Laura. Meanwhile, Little Adam goes back into the   house to welcome Ellie back and be a jerk to her  date who gave her a ride. This upsets her mother   greatly and goes outside for fresh air, giving Big  Adam a chance to see her again through the window.   The next day, after Ellie has left for work,  Little Adam takes Big Adam to his parent's room   so he can wear some of their dad's clothes to be  able to go into town without getting attention.   Their dad died a year and a half ago, but Ellie  still hasn't been emotionally able to give his   stuff away, so Big Adam puts on their dad's  favorite jacket and tells his younger self   to treat their mom better or he'll regret it in  the future. Afterward, they go to the drugstore,   where Big Adam shops while Little Adams waits  outside. That's how he's found by his bullies,   who start beating him up until they're interrupted  by Big Adam. He isn't here to break up the fight,   he thinks this is important for Little Adam's  growth, but he does give him some tips on how   to defend himself. However, Little Adam isn't  fast enough and the bullies beat him again,   so he runs away. Big Adam can't stand seeing  this and, still remembering how much he hated   these bullies as a kid, he threatens them until  they promise not to bother Little Adam again.   Back in the house, Little Adam is going through  Big Adam's things and won't let him come inside   as punishment for not having helped him against  the bullies. When he finds the picture of Laura,   he demands to know who he is, so Big Adam explains  that she's his wife who isn't around anymore   before leaving in a rather upset mood. He ends up  in a bar where he finds Ellie sharing her sorrows   with the bartender. Big Adam cuts in and tells  her she shouldn't pretend to be strong for her   kid because that makes him believe it too - she  should share her grief and go through it together.   Before leaving, he also tells her Little Adam  doesn't hate her, he loves her more than he knows.   This is a very peculiar phrasing because it's  the same way her son would always tell her he   loves her - combined with the fact this  stranger has the same jacket as her late   husband makes Ellie very confused, but when goes  after him to ask him about it, he's already gone.   The following day, a new futuristic jet appears  near the woods, piloted by Christos and his boss   Maya Sorian, who has brought a team of robots to  go after Adam. Meanwhile, Big Adam tells Little   Adam about Laura while sharing a meal. They met at  the academy when she entered his class by mistake,   he offered to guide her to the right one and  they quickly hit it off. A couple of years ago,   she didn't come back from a jump, and they told  Adam her jet broke up on reentry, but this didn't   make any sense: she was the best pilot in  the program and wrote the book on reentry.   Big Adam was going to 2018 because that's  where she went, but he doesn't know why,   since Maya changed the logs. Little Adam  is surprised to hear this because Maya is   his dad's partner and she's always been nice to  him, but in the future, she takes over his dad's   technology and buys all the right people to gain  control of the most important resource on Earth:   time. Indeed, it was his dad that discovered  time traveling with his "Adam Project",   although it was by accident. Big Adam is sure  Maya got Laura killed. Their conversation is   interrupted when Hawking reacts to something they  can't hear or see. Big Adam gets a special sphere   that he throws at the door, revealing the robot  soldiers that are about to enter, then runs into   the backyard to fight the rest of them with a  lightsaber-like weapon. He quickly defeats them   all, but as they're about to leave, Maya shows up  in her jet with Christos and more robots. Christos   begins beating Big Adam up, only to be interrupted  by someone suddenly shooting the jet: it's Laura,   who is armed and ready to save her husband. Maya  and Christos get away while the couple destroys   the few remaining robots, then together with  Little Adam, they get in Laura's truck to escape.   Maya's jet appears again and starts shooting at  them as she chases them, so Laura drives off the   road and into the woods to lose her. Two robots  go after them on hoverboards, but they trick one   into crashing against a tree and destroy the  other by cutting a tree and dropping it on it.   They eventually reach a safe house on the  beach where Laura has been hiding since 2018,   waiting for Adam to find her, because she always  knew he would, even if she isn't happy at the fact   he's spoken to himself. Then she tells them the  whole story: Laura traveled to 2018 because she   found a strange jump to that year on the logs. It  turns out that's the year Adam's dad's project had   gone online, so future Maya went back to give her  younger self some investment tips and gain control   of the company. Their future is dark and dystopian  because Maya has been playing them all along,   and when she found out Laura knew the truth,  she planted a bomb on her jet to get rid of her.   Laura wants Adam to go back to 2018 and stop time  traveling from being invented, but he refuses,   since she can't come because the jet only accepts  his DNA, and removing time traveling means they'll   never meet at the academy. The security system  suddenly goes off, alerting them that Christos   has found them. Laura sends the Adams away in her  truck, promising they'll meet again before going   back to the house and grabbing all the weapons  she's been collecting through the years to buy   them some time. While Laura begins a gunfight  with Christos and watches Maya arrive in her jet,   Big Adam convinces his hesitant younger self to  come with him to 2018 by mentioning they'll see   their dad again. Little Adam accepts and uses his  fingerprint to activate the jet, and together they   fly out of there. However, after shooting Laura,  Christos and Maya see them and go after them, so   Big Adam loses their trail by temporarily turning  off the jet and dropping it inside a mountain   cave. Once their enemy is distracted, they fly  out and make the last jump the jet has left,   effectively arriving in 2018. After making Little  Adam promise he won't tell their dad the details   of his death not to mess with the timeline,  Big Adam enters the college classroom where   Louis Reed is finishing his class. After his  students are gone, he sees Big Adam sitting at   the back and immediately recognizes him as his son  right before Little Adam runs to him to hug him.   They try to explain to Louis why they are here  and why they need him, but Louis refuses to listen   because he doesn't want to mess with the timeline.  Frustrated by this, Big Adam ends up punching him,   but Louis punches him back before finally  accepting to go with them to the motel   they're staying at and listening to the whole  story. He's shocked to hear Maya's plans and   how evil she becomes, but he still refuses to help  because he doesn't think time should be altered,   then leaves after Big Adam tells him he should  stop being a scientist and start being a father.   Meanwhile, future Maya arrives in 2018 too and  visits her younger self, who isn't happy to see   her. She's been doing all the things future Maya  requested her to, but it's all very unethical and   is causing damage to the environment. But future  Maya convinces her to help her again when she   reminds her they've always been lonely workaholics  and this company is their family legacy that they   can't let the government put their hands on,  otherwise all their sacrifice and loneliness   would've been for nothing. Back in the motel,  Little Adam tells Big Adam that he doesn't really   hate their dad, he made himself hate him because  hate is easier to deal with than sadness and   grief. Louis worked a lot, yes, but he also stayed  up when he came home and played catch with Adam   no matter how tired he was. This gives Big Adam a  lot to think about. The next morning, Louis stays   at home instead of going to work to spend some  time with an even younger Adam and puppy Hawking.   Ellie is surprised by hearing how worried he is  about Adam's childhood and promises him that he's   a good dad, even if he can't always be there for  them. When Ellie tells him he has plenty of time,   that leaves him thinking as well. The Adams go  to Maya's company building with the intention   of blowing up the prototype time machine and find  it strange that there aren't any workers around.   This is because Maya has sent them  away and filled the place with robots,   which Big Adam quickly proceeds to fight with  his lightsaber-like weapon while Little Adam   offers backup from afar with a drone. Little  Adam also shoots one of the incoming cars,   but he misses the other one, which almost  hits Big Adam, only to get saved by Louis.   After crashing the enemy car with his own, Louis  explains that he's changed his mind and he wants   to help: blowing up the machine is pointless  because Maya can build another one, what they   need to find and destroy is the hard drive with  all the equations and designs he's developed.   While Little Adam stays outside watching over  the perimeter unaware of the jet behind him,   Big Adam and Louis enter the time machine room and  remove the hard drive panel. Before they can do   anything with it though, the two Mayas arrive with  a bunch of robots and Christos, who is holding   Little Adam at gunpoint. When asked to hand in  the drive in exchange for his own younger life,   Big Adam hesitates, which angers Louis and Little  Adam since life shouldn't be negotiated with.   Little Adam is so furious that he pushes Christos'  gun and makes him shoot the machine, causing the   electromagnetic seal to break. Now all the metal  objects in the room are being sucked by it,   including the guns and the robots, one of which  grabs Little Adam with him and gets them stuck in   the machine. While Louis tries to deactivate the  system, Christos fights Big Adam over the drive,   and Little Adam manages to free himself  by punching the robot that is holding him   with the glove he used to control the drone. He  finds the lightsaber-like weapon on the floor and   tries to use it to help his older self, but he's  still a kid so Christos easily pushes him away.   Then he holds Big Adam against the ground, trying  to choke him, but Adam notices the door is about   to get off its hinges, so he pushes up Christos  enough for the door to hit him as it flies by,   sucked in by the machine. Louis can't shut  off the system, so they need to leave before   everything explodes. Maya tries to stop him using  a gun made from a futuristic material that isn't   attracted by magnets however, its bullets are.  So when she tries to shoot Louis, the bullet is   sucked in by the machine too and hits younger  Maya in the way, killing her and causing older   Maya to disappear. The Adams and Louis leave the  building right before the machine blows up, but   the Adams don't disappear quite yet because thirty  years of time take a while to fix themselves up.   They go back to their house and Louis  admits he's already guessed he'll die soon,   but he doesn't want to know when or how. After  they all hug and tell each other "I love you",   they spend their last moment together playing  catch in the backyard until the Adams disappear.   Back in 2022, Adam makes sure to give his  mom a tight hug and tell her he loves her.   In the future, Laura enters the wrong college  class and gets to meet Adam all over again.