The Ryan Reynolds-Shawn Levy partnership has given movie fans two incredibly successful films over the past year in Free Guy and The Adam Project. Both of these films surprised critics with their heartfelt nature and impressive storylines, leading to yet another team-up between Reynolds and Levy for the highly anticipated Deadpool 3.
While Free Guy and The Adam Project are both outstanding films in their own right, there are certain elements of each that outshine the other. So while it may be hard to decide which is the better film overall, it's clear that both films are unique works with their own distinct strengths.
What The Adam Project Does Better Than Free Guy
The Adam Project Has Better Heart-Pounding Action
Both Free Guy and The Adam Project featured plenty of heart-pounding action scenes, though in remarkably different ways. Set in a video game world, the former film features over-the-top action that viewers are accustomed to seeing in major blockbusters. The Adam Project, however, invented its own unique fighting style.
The Adam Project's fighting introduces lightsaber-esque weapons capable of launching sonic blasts that can either catapult the user across the battlefield or decimate enemy forces. The new battle mechanic takes from other classic action flicks (chiefly Star Wars) and combines them in several surprisingly compelling and clever battle sequences.
The Adam Project Has Better Family Themes
Much of The Adam Project's core theme centers around family, particularly the titular Adam Reed's relationship with his mother and father. The older Adam, played by Reynolds, is filled with regret and pain relating to his father's death and his subsequent mistreatment of his mother. However, through his time travel antics, he is able to fix his past mistakes and make his family whole once more.
The Netflix original's heartfelt message about appreciating what time one has left with their family will no doubt stick with viewers long after the credits roll. Aided by the parental performances of Jennifer Garner and Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Mark Ruffalo, the core theme of this film truly shines above even the pomp and frill of its more action-heavy scenes.
The Adam Project Has A More Compelling Villain
Award-winning actress Catherine Keener (Get Out, The Incredibles 2) lends her skillset in two performances in this film, playing the future version of the evil Dr. Maya Sorian as well as the present-day variant, using de-aging technology to make the latter a reality.
Despite very limited screen time, Keener manages to come off as surprisingly compelling and even sympathetic in her role, particularly as the younger, less jaded Sorian. At her core, she's merely afraid of failure, driving her to commit unspeakable acts. Overall, she proves to be a far more relatable villain than Taika Waititi's over-the-top yet incredibly fun Antwan in Free Guy.
The Adam Project Has A Cooler Lightsaber
Coincidentally enough, both Ryan Reynolds flicks feature the principal character wielding a lightsaber (or lightsaber-like weapon) against their enemies. While Free Guy blatantly includes an actual lightsaber for its final battle, The Adam Project invents a new weapon, which merely resembles the iconic Star Wars weapon.
Although the lightsaber cameo in Free Guy is certainly a fun bit, it ultimately pales in comparison to The Adam Project's invention of a device that can act as much more than a sword. The latter of these films attempts to do something new with the concept and ultimately succeeds in doing so. The constant resistance on the part of Reynolds's character that the weapon is not a lightsaber is an added bonus.
The Adam Project Has A More Sarcastic Sense Of Humor
Ryan Reynolds has become known in Hollywood for playing snarky and sarcastic characters that can rarely pass up the opportunity to crack a joke or two. While both films add to the growing catalogue of sarcastic quips on the part of the actor, The Adam Project goes all-in on the snarkiness in a way that Free Guy does not.
A central part of The Adam Project's story is that Reynolds's eponymous character hides his pain behind dry and sarcastic humor rather than expressing his hurt to others. While serving as a poignant plot point, this emotional reality also happens to allow for Reynolds to drop plenty of memorable quotes throughout the film.
What Free Guy Does Better Than The Adam Project
Free Guy Has Better Franchise Potential
Coupled with the Netflix Original adventure film Red Notice, Free Guy became the first of two hit movies for Ryan Reynolds in 2021. Though The Adam Project has continued the trend of highly successful back-to-back Ryan Reynolds films, it doesn't carry with it the same possibility for expansion into a franchise.
Free Guy introduces audiences to an intriguing world that is both familiar in its many allusions to other popular media, and yet somehow feels fresh and new. The world of Guy and his other AI friends is rife with possibilities of further exploration, which Disney seems eager to greenlight in the wake of the original's success.
Free Guy Has Better Romance
One of the more compelling aspects of Free Guy was the romantic subplot just under the surface between Joe Keery's Keys and Jodie Comer's Millie. The two video game designers have an unspoken attraction between them throughout the film that eventually blossoms into a beautiful romance by the time the credits roll.
While The Adam Project does feature a compelling romance between Reynold's character and his wife, played by Zoe Saldaña, their screentime is far too limited on the film's larger scale. Keys and Millie, however, both have the necessary screentime to learn more about their love for one another, leading to their eventual reunion at the end of the film.
Free Guy Has Better Pop-Culture References
Free Guy, by its very nature, is the perfect film to cram as many pop culture references as possible. The creative team behind the movie jumped at every opportunity they had, including in the film cameos from popular YouTubers and streamers, references to Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite, major celebrity vocal cameos, and, of course, the signature shield of the iconic MCU Avenger Captain America (along with a small cameo from Chris Evans himself).
While many lesser films might have used such heavy-handed pop culture references as a distraction from a poorly developed plot or faulty worldbuilding logic, Free Guy doesn't seem to fall into this category. Instead, it uses its allusions to heighten the humor of the film, then goes on to stand on its own two feet for the more emotionally resonant scenes.
Free Guy Has Better Worldbuilding
Both Free Guy and The Adam Project include worlds vastly different from our own. The former introduces a video game landscape filled with NPCs and player-operated characters, while the latter shows a futuristic version of our own world that has become equipped with the possibility to travel through time.
Although both of these fictional worlds are immensely compelling, Free Guy simply does a better job of building up its signature world over the course of the film. Viewers never get to see the future from which Ryan Reynolds hails in The Adam Project, making it feel far more distant than the viscerally fleshed-out terrain of Free City. Ultimately, the setting of Free Guy will likely be one that fans are incredibly eager to revisit in future films.
Free Guy Has Better Contemplations Of Consciousness
In Free Guy, Ryan Reynolds's titular character becomes aware that the world he knows is merely an illusion, the setting of a multiplayer online video game similar to Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite. This realization leads to a surprising contemplation on the nature of consciousness itself.
In this discussion of what it means to be truly alive, the film finds its footing--and its heart. What makes Guy and his AI companions so compelling isn't just their humor or blase reaction to the horrific world around them, it is their assistance that, though they exist in a fictional world, their experiences are just as real as anyone else's. This proves to be a surprisingly beautiful theme that echoes on even long after the movie comes to a close.