Adam the First

Adam (Oakes Fegley) has been raised in the woods by his not-father James (David Duchovny). They are tracked down and raided by bounty hunters. James and his girlfriend are killed. Before dying, James gives Adam his real father's name and three addresses. Adam sets out to find him.

I don't like Adam and that's as simple as that. I stop caring about him, his quest, and his happily ever after. He is one of those annoying teenage boys who don't think beyond his two feet. The actor is also doing the hesitation while being boldly secure at other times. I really got annoyed with the first Jacob Watterson. If Jacob is a real criminal, he would have told the kid to f off. I couldn't take his patience with the kid. I understand the performance and the writing. I just don't like it.

The film start well, although it is not an highly original plot. 14 year old Boy lives with his adopted parents, they get killed but before his adoptive father pass away he is given 3 names and three addresses of men that could be his biological father. Therefore the boy goes on a trek to find his real father and to find out why was he given away.

The acting was good from all involved. Oakes Fegley, who plays our main character Adam has been acting for a while now and he always deliver strong performances. My biggest issue with the film is purely on the writing side of things. Adam is never given any moment that shows he is capable of grief. At the start of the film we see that both his adoptive parents are murdered in front of his eyes yet they never give Adam any real moment where he shows any grief, this makes it look like he is moving on from those death very fast and it is a bit unrealistic. Same go for later in the film when another pivotal moment whom you would expect Adam to show some sort of emotional turmoil but the writing makes it look like Adam just do not feel anything and moves on swiftly from tragedies. It is just odd. At least at the very end of the film we finally get to see him shows some emotion at the reveal of his birth parents and Oakes Fegley delivers. Again this is not Oakes Fegley fault but the writing for not giving Adam a few seconds where we get a glimpses of his current state of mind following some rather tragic stuff happening to him. The big payoff at the end when we find out the truth is also rushed and again the fact that it is rushed coupled with the fact that the writers just did not give Adam enough real character moments throughout the film, makes that ending a little underwhelming when we should be really moved by it. Aside from that the boy journey had real potential. The three different beats of the film as Adam check out his three potential father were interesting but not really used to their full potentials. So much more could have been done. I did not dislike the film but I really wanted to feel more. It really lacked any emotional punch except maybe from the very final scene. This film is deserving of a 5 out of 5. Not bad, not great. Still worth a watch on a Sunday afternoon but do not expect to be swiped out of your feet emotionally by it.

It's not a sci-fi , fantasy or horror feature but anyway you need gallons of suspension of disbelief to take anything serious in this movie. The stupid, shallow, silly, underscripted story, dialogues and scenes that nobody in not any way possibly can take serious combined with the lack of any possible inspiration on the theme makes you think that this movie was written for the school play of a primary school. The worst thing would be that anyone involved in making this film was thinking that they were really making a serious movie about abundant children. But, wait a minute, maybe I saw a deadpan comedy or a satire? It must be that because I really can't believe that the agent of Oakes Fegley tried to ruin the career of a very talented actor.

It started with promise and Duchovny was great. But after the first 20mins and the setup it just got worse and worse, scene by scene.

Other than Duchovny there wasn't much good acting, the dialogue and the reaction from Adam was bizarre and just didn't make much sense. Very poor writing and directing.

It really did seem like the writter/director had a begging for a film and that was it, they just winged it from there on.

You really just start wishing the film will end. Then to make things worse it breaks down into a vomit inducing musical number for the final scene.

There is really no need to waste time watching this.

Here is a script which opens with an unexpected scenario which elicits the "usual" sorts of expectations going forward. Now let's go to the end--after the credits roll--the very end of film and then think back over everything that's transpired. All expectations are turned inside out and upside down. Just as you start thinking you know where it's going there's just enough of spin to set you off balance with a surprise. It's not a perfect film --but it is one that makes you think a lot about human nature. And by the end there's a LOT to think about regarding human motives, intentions--and love. An unexpected pleasure for those who appreciate the unexpected instead of formula scripts. Oakes Fegley--yeah, he carries the film very well.