The Adjustment Bureau

Synopsis
Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller The Adjustment Bureau as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he's ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York.

The Good
The films biggest sell is that it's charming and creative. Matt Damon and Emily Blunts share a great chemistry throughout. The initial mystery is translated well with sophisticated humor, snappy repartee, wonderful score, and superb scenery helping to make the film a very enjoyable ride.

The Bad
Whilst the film is as creative as say, Inception. It's nowhere near as intellectual and instead of the 'unexplained' adding density and mystery, it makes the story (based on a Philip K. Dick short) feel contrived and a little thin in places. Inconsistencies with the Bureau's level of control and power will leave you scratching your head and two large jumps in time disrupt the flow of the story and feel unnatural.

Verdict
I recommend going to see, the positives very much outweigh the negatives to create a good solid film, just don't expect the same sensation as an Inception or Matrix flick.

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I wouldn't steal a car, but I'd download one if I could.

I disagree, I found the negatives outweigh the positives. It was a great concept executed poorly, which is the case with most adaptations from Philip K. Dick. I'll go into more detail when I get home cause I'm at work right now, but people going in expecting a great sci/fi film, you'll be disappointed because its a romance film.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

I agree with TheUsualSuspect. I thought it was poorly executed, just like he said.

My review is here.

More comments by me are here.

I thought the film was average. I wouldn't rush to see it again, but it does have some high points. I totally agree that Damon and Blunt had great chemistry. However, the ending falls flat for me- just kind of left unsatisfied.

Fair enough guys, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
I enjoyed reading your review, but found myself disagreeing with nearly every negative you suggest.

I mentioned this in my review, for me the scenery does seems to trick a lot of people into believing they're in for some kind of Matrix/Inception job, but the truth is the film never 'tries to be' anything even close to those films. The Adjustment bureau is a Romantic/Sci-Fi, 'Romantic' taking precedence the whole time. The whacky concept is far to brief, vague and unexplored for the film makers to think the film was a "mind humping movie" whatever the F**k that means . I think they saw a crazy scenario to play through a relationship construction and I respect that.

I see there's no point in me trying to convert you, to each their own.

It means I can't write "mind-f**king" on here without it being censored, so I came up with my own way of putting it.

Didn't the ending feel like a cop out, though?



Other people I've talked to hated the ending. It is such a cop out.

It just didn't feel very romantic to me. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt were strangely cast. This is a Will Smith movie. This was like one of those goofy Seven Pounds/Pursuit of Happyness/Hancock kind of movies that Will Smith does. With the love and the bizarre science fiction stuff going on. Will Smith should have starred in this, not Matt Damon. Will Smith is probably seething with rage at Matt Damon for getting this role.

Science fiction? This is clearly a muddled religious parable of some kind and all the worse for it. I don't see how it even begins to compare with The Matrix type films.

For me, the concept is not great, but I think the film made the most of a pretty stupid idea---i.e. by focusing on the romance. Just about every dialogue involving an explanation of the Bureau was majorfacepalm.gif for me. During the whole film there was maybe one moment when I rubbed my chin and went "this is sort of interesting": when Damon had to make a choice about his girlfriend's future or his love for her, which... is something that is never really made apparent in a lot of relationship scenarios because, well, you're not supposed to know what's going to happen.

I did like Damon's character for whatever reason. He's just a very likable guy.

All and all I was pretty bored by it and hated the concept explanations but it's not everyday you have a film with the God as a literal character, so... that boldness kicks it up to a 4.5/10.

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"Loves them? They need them, like they need the air."

Agreed, the ending for me was the least satisfying part of the film. I also agree that they should have been 'reset' in the end. Having them march off into the distance knowing what they now know, I just didn't feel it.

As I mentioned, the flow of the film was also ruined by a 3 year gap followed by an 11 month gap in the story. There's also the fact that there seem to be inconsistencies with the bureaus powers. It's funny they can, make someone pick up the phone and call their ex 4 times in the morning to offset a potential relationship between Damon and Blunt, but they can't just abolish Damons interest in her.

To be fair to my review though, I listed many negatives including things later mentioned to me + I gave the film a solid 3.5 on the basis of the films strengths (and there were some). I'm not oblivious to the fact that the film is far from perfect, but Planet News giving it 4.5/10 is perplexing to say the least.

Maybe my estimations have been rocked by a series of bad watch's, but I remain that I enjoyed the film.

Also, why was the only good angel black? Magic Negro much?

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"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo.

There was one point in the movie, where I simply lost it. I was laughing too much to really care as to what the rest of the movie had to say because the concept was just really ridiculous.



From then on, the film completely lost me. It didn't help that I couldn't get behind the relationship in the first place because...



The rest of it was pretty blah. I give it points for at least trying, as I said earlier. I like the concept, except I think Dark City handled similar themes and issues years earlier and far better. I would gladly recommend that film over this one any day of the week. As I mentioned earlier, it's a love story, disguised as a sci/fi. Much like how The Village was...whatever it was, disguised as a horror.

You guys seem bored spending so much time on this flick right now with all those older films still just waiting to be seen. Now, in Sexy's case, I understand; he was hoping to see Matt's ass from a new perspective or some kinda kinky "thing" dangling from it.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

>implying that because older films exist we are not warranted to express distaste for current films
>implying that ragging on a film is not an enjoyable act in itself
>implying that SC is a 1-dimensional human being
>implying that "" has any meaning anymore

Ooohh.. really? I just picked up Dark City on Blu-ray for $10 the other day. I've never seen it before. I bought it 'cause Kiefer Sutherland's in it. I had no idea it's similar to The Adjustment Bureau. I haven't watched it yet, but I will make sure to do that soon and review it in my thread.

I don't know if I've seen Matt's ass yet, but I did pick up School Ties the other day, and I know there's a shower scene in it with Matt Damon naked. That's also on my list of movies to check out soon.

Considering I just said I bought Dark City for Kiefer Sutherland and School Ties for Matt Damon naked in a shower, I think Mark F doesn't need to imply anything - it's known.

I wasn't implying anything either. I said exactly what I meant. sometimes means I'm keeping it as clean as possible while saying what I mean.

I didn't know what you meant exactly by kinky "thing" dangling from it at first, but now I think I have an idea but I'm wondering how that would have played in the movie.

Except that The Matrix is EXACTLY that - a sci-fi with some romance thrown in based on religious concepts, in this case The Black Prison from Gnosticism. The Matrix is one of the most heavily religious films in the science fiction genre ever made - it's about a messiah for crissakes.

Meanwhile, why compare films to The Matrix, a film that just isn't that good in the first place.

Blunt vs Moss - One of the most vibrant, interesting and talented young actresses working today, or a butter-faced slacker that fit into the Matrix leathers and was able to learn how to do a scorpion kick faster than the other actresses trying out for the part.

Damon vs Reeves - Buahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Well, both source stories were written by drug-addled, flipped out Gnostics. One is a seminal giant of science fiction writing, the others (the brothers) are a pair of pop culture saturated rip-off artists.

So, why is a sophomoric, philosophy 101 hack job of a film somehow the litmus test for great sci-fi?

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I was gonna say - I thought The Matrix was a religious, Gnostic story.

It is, but I think it works perfectly well on a purely sci-fi level, and is still interesting and accessible to people either uninterested in (or unaware of) its Gnostic message.

Can't the same be said about The Adjustment Bureau? I mean, if one misses the religious allegory (many will), does the thing fall flat on its face?

Keep in mind I have yet to see this, so planet might be dead on with the ham-fisted allegory. I'll see this later this weekend.