Warning: Spoilers for The Adam Project ahead.
Netflix's The Adam Project deals with time travel and villains and its ending grapples with multiple themes, meaning, and sets up a potential sequel. Starring Ryan Reynolds as Adam Reed, a time-traveling pilot on a very specific mission, The Adam Project is a sci-fi yarn with a lot of heart, reminiscent of the Amblin movies of the 80s. Reynolds reteams with his Free Guy director Shawn Levy for the movie, which also stars Mark Ruffalo as Louis Reed, Jennifer Garner as Ellie Reed, Zoe Saldana as Laura, Catherine Keener as Maya Sorian, and Walker Scobell as young Adam.
Reynolds' Adam (Big Adam) is a pilot from the year 2050 who steals a ship and attempts to travel back to 2018 but ends up in 2022. Injured and needing the assistance of his younger self (Young Adam) to help restart his damaged ship as it's coded to his DNA and won't reset when Big Adam is wounded, Big Adam is on a mission to find his wife, Laura (Saldana), also a pilot, who mysteriously disappeared on a mission to 2018. That explanation of her death doesn't sit well with Big Adam, prompting the ship theft and subsequent inadvertent arrival in 2022, where he finds that Laura is alive and has been stranded since 2018. Things get worse when the villain Maya Sorian, comes looking for Adam. Though she claims to have discovered time travel, it was really Adam's father, Louis, who did. But Sorian has been using it to travel back to make her younger self (thereby her older self) rich and powerful, and she intends to stop Adam from revealing her duplicity.
Once reunited, Big Adam, Young Adam, and Laura deduce Sorian's time travel deeds and decide that they must travel back to 2018, reunite with Louis, and enlist him to help stop time travel from ever becoming a thing. Louis immediately recognizes what's happening when both versions of his son arrive in 2018 and helps them both to see their plan through by destroying "The Adam Project" and re-aligning the timestream, subsequently stopping Sorian for good and making peace with the past (and future) of their lives. Here's the ending explained and what it really means.
The Adam Project's Time Travel & Villain Plan Explained
Maya Sorian in 2018 is a wealthy investor who helps fund Louis Reed's research into The Adam Project, an electromagnetic particle accelerator, which has the ability to create wormholes that pilots can fly through to travel through time. The accelerator is powered by a mathematical algorithm created by Louis, which is housed in a crystal hard drive plugged into the accelerator. Just as they go public, Louis is killed in a car accident (which is implied to have been caused by Sorian) and Sorian takes over the project, effectively controlling time travel. However, that's not enough for Sorian, as she travels back to 2018 to try and change the timestream to make herself more wealthy and powerful while attempting to erase Louis' contributions to The Adam Project. When Laura discovers that Sorian is traveling back to 2018, Sorian sabotages her ship in an attempt to stop her from revealing the truth, telling Adam that she died during re-entry and prompting Adam to go on his own mission to find out what really happened.
Why The Bullet Doesn't Hit Louis (& Kills Maya Instead)
In the film's final scene at Sorian's headquarters, the two Adams and Louis infiltrate the sub-level where the electromagnetic particle accelerator is kept in 2018, with the plan to steal the crystal hard drive that houses Louis's mathematical algorithm. At one point, a captured Young Adam causes Old Sorian's handgun to go off, breaking the electromagnetic seal on the accelerator, which causes everything magnetic to be pulled into it. Old Sorian eventually has all three Reed boys at gunpoint, threatening to shoot Louis if he doesn't hand over the crystal drive. Louis refuses and Old Sorian calls his bluff, firing a single round at him, which dovetails and hits Young Sorian instead. As Louis explains to Big Adam afterward, the armor-piercing bullet had a magnetic steel core, which caused it to deflect and fly toward the accelerator, hitting Young Sorian in the chest as she was standing in the bullet's path, effectively killing both versions of her at once.
Do Adam & Laura Recognize Each Other (& Will They Get Back Together?)
After time travel is destroyed by both Adams and their father, everyone is returned to their place in time, seemingly erasing all memory of what happened. Earlier in the Ryan Reynolds movie, when Adam and Laura are reunited in 2022, the idea comes up that Adam must stop time travel from ever happening. Adam is resistant to the idea, as he loves Laura and doesn't want to lose her (again). The key to whether or not they recognize each other at the end of the film comes from what Laura says to him in that moment in 2022: "Every moment we ever had will always have happened, even if we correct the timestream, somewhere in us will be the echo of this one and we will find each other."
This seems to later be proven true in The Adam Project's ending. When Big Adam is back in the moment at the flight academy where they originally met in 2050, the two connect just as they had originally. But there's a moment of recognition in Laura's eyes, as if she suddenly realized something, which is likely her early premonition come true. A similar thing happens to Young Adam in 2022 back in his timeline, when he's seen hugging his mom after suddenly feeling he is supposed to, fulfilling the instruction of Big Adam from before, who asked his young self to do just that.
What The Adams & Their Dad's Game Of Catch Really Means
Throughout the film, Big Adam has a standoffish relationship with Louis, his father, as he carries the emotional baggage of him not being around much when he was alive. Young Adam, however, reminds Big Adam that prior to his death, their dad would play catch with Adam every day, no matter how tired he was, always making time to squeeze in that moment. After they have destroyed The Adam Project and the three share a tender moment together with Mark Ruffalo's character telling both of his boys that he loves them and that he can't know about his inevitable fate, he suggests a game of catch. The three stand in the backyard, tossing the ball to one another, which gives Young Adam another moment of happiness with his father, while Big Adam is finally able to be reminded of happier times and make his peace with his dad. For Louis, the moment is about appreciating his legacy, sharing time with both versions of his son, knowing that he won't ever see them at that age again. The game of catch is ultimately about cherishing the time that they have together, no matter how fleeting. Earlier in the film, Louis mentions a saying by the Romans: "Enjoy yourselves. It's later than you think," which is all about living every moment one can while they can.
Will The Adam Project 2 Happen? What A Sequel's Story Could Be
While the Adams and Louis destroy the electromagnetic accelerator at Sorian's headquarters and escape before it collapses into itself, there's one component that still exists in the 2018 timeline: Louis. As he created the mathematical algorithm that was stored on the crystal drive, it would seemingly be within his power to recreate it before he dies (if that even still takes place now that Sorian is dead). While both Adams return to their respective timelines as if nothing ever happened and time travel never existed, the fact remains that Louis, in 2018, still has the scientific knowledge to recreate time travel and take it in a whole other direction. While his main funding died with Sorian, it's entirely possible that Louis could restart his work with a new, potentially less evil contributor. Life in Big Adam's 2050 is never seen in The Adam Project movie, but perhaps a sequel could have Louis restart his work, open a wormhole, and travel to the future to recruit Big Adam, potentially stopping by the current timeline to pick up Young Adam (now older) to take part in the adventure. With the concept of time travel a major part of the film, The Adam Project 2 would have limitless possibilities.
The Adam Project's Real Meaning Explained
The Adam Project has a few key takeaways, but the biggest is that people should soak up the time that they have with those they love, as they never know when they'll be gone. This kicks off immediately, as Adam's entire mission to 2018 was about finding Laura, whom he lost very suddenly. The theme of loss continues in the Ryan Reynolds movie as much of the film is spent revolving around the untimely death of Louis and the effect it has on Adam in both 2022 and 2050, as both versions feel the loss differently. Big Adam is bitter and angry about his father's death, while Young Adam is still feeling the raw emotions of it and simply misses his father. When both Adams see their father in 2018 it stirs their emotions and allows both to resolve their pain over his loss in different ways. Big Adam is reminded of the good times with his father, while Young Adam gets the closure of seeing his father alive once more, which effectively folds into their time consciousness at the film's resolution. Young Adam also resolves his indifferent attitude to his mother by the end of The Adam Project, finally showing her the love and affection she desperately needs from him, which again tackles the theme of embracing the time spent with loved ones.