The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau

Directed by: George Nolfi
Cast: Matt Damon as David Norris

Emily Blunt as Elise Sellas
Rated PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*
Fate is an interesting thing. Everyone seems to be obsessed with the idea of free will. The idea of controlling our own destiny sends us on a power trip as we place ourselves as the god of our own lives.

But, what if your fate was controlled by people who walked among us, holding the plans for our lives in a book? Infinite details about your own life's destiny are within reach. This idea becomes reality in the new movie, The Adjustment Bureau.

Based on the short story, The Adjustment Team by Phillip K. Dick, Adjustment Bureau tells the story of a man and a woman who try to overcome the predetermined plan for lives in order to be together.

David Norris is a congressman whose career isn't going the way he planned. On the eve of a lost election, he meets a beautiful woman and the two share an instant connection, but she runs off before David even gets her name.

Fast forward a month; David is "retired" from politics and starting a new job. On the bus, he encounters the woman once again and finally catches her name. Elise leaves her his number and the two exit the bus. When David enters his office building, he walks in on a group of men holding things up to his friend's head. After a quick chase through the office, the men subdue David and knock him out.

Upon awakening, he learns that this group of men are "adjusters," people who monitor people's lives to make sure that they "stay on track." They walk among us, adjusting things accordingly to keep the world in balance. David has gone off plan. He was never supposed to have seen Elise again and they burn her number so that he can never find her again. Before letting him go, the Adjusters threaten to erase David's mind if he ever tells anyone about them.

Since this is Hollywood, David eventually runs into Elise...three years later. She's still single and they both hit it off, picking up from the last time they met. Now aware of the Adjusters, David does everything he can to keep Elise close to him but the Adjustment Bureau is doing everything they can to stop him, all for the sake of "the plan."

What I Liked:

The plot of Adjustment Bureau was very new. I can honestly say I have never seen anything quite like it before and that felt really good. As I've said recently, Hollywood has lacked originality the last few months but Adjustment Bureau helped reintroduce a standard for movies to be held to.

I also loved the portrayal of the characters. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt both did a phenomenal job of bringing life and depth into ordinary people. I was enthralled while watching them, amazed by the way they kept their characters real and interesting, a feat that is hard to do and not often found in a science-fiction type thriller. Usually, they have super powers.

Of course, David and Elise are in love in the film and both do everything in their power to stay with each other. While this formula is not uncommon, the portrayal of it and the raw emotion that each of the actors brought to the film seemed to give it a whole new element. Once again, I responded to the actors in an unusual way, feeling uncommonly sad at the obstacles they had to overcome and likewise that much more excited at their triumphs.

On top of the brilliant acting, the film delivered magnificently in the area of effects and presentation. The cinematography was exquisite, showing the passing of time in between the meeting periods and then subtly working the camera shots so that the Adjusters felt inhuman without any real explanation why.

In the area of effects, there weren't a lot, but those it had were great. For example, the Adjusters can travel quickly by jumping from doorway to doorway, using them as a type of portal. With this dynamic, the film pulled off one of the coolest chase scenes I've ever scene as the Adjusters tried to keep up with David as he ran down the street. There were no explosions or flashes of light, but seeing a Chinese restaurants door open up into Central Park is not only cool, its a subtle effect that causes the audience to go "wow" and gives them an idea of the power the Adjusters have.

What I Didn't Like:

Unfortunately, this section is just about as long as the first.

The main thing that kept me from triumphantly leaving the theater when the credits rolled was the very weird and somewhat contradicting spiritual aspect. The Adjusters seem to represent angels, reporting to a higher ranking being they call "The Chairman." The Chairman is meant to represent God, which was confirmed when one of the Adjusters says, "[We just call him the Chairman], you call him many other things."

Now, that wouldn't really be that bad. Allegory's take many different forms. The weird part comes from the fact that David is essentially fighting the Chairman (aka fighting God) the whole film. You know that plan David is fighting against? The Chairman wrote that. It represents the future that God has set aside for all of us.

This aspect gets weirder when you consider the little speech Alan Arkin gives Matt Damon. Essentially, Alan tells Damon that the Adjusters are there and so heavily involved in his life because the humans are not "mature enough to have free will." He recounts times that the Adjusters "stepped back" and gave the humans control. It resulted in the Dark Ages, the two World Wars and the Cuban Missile Crisis. So, according to this, the humans have to be monitored because we can't make our own big decisions.

So, basically, the Adjusters (angels) who work for the Chairman (God) are telling us that their cannot be any free will in the world. But, I'm pretty sure that undermines the whole Christian faith. God gave us free will to choose Him. We were created for that purpose, yet, according to the Adjusters, we can't handle that.

To make matters worse, in the end (SPOILER) David and Elise look for the Chairman to try and convince him to rewrite their plan. And he does it. No, they never actually see him, but he basically sends them a "Get Out of Jail Free" card with a blank plan. Then the ending voice-over talks about how all the Chairman really wants is us to be able to find our own free will. Translated as "We need to overcome his plan for us anyways." Uhh...

I know it's a movie, but the whole thing felt like such a blatant slap in the face of Christianity that I left with a sour taste in mouth.

Couple that whole thing with the insane amount of language (I counted 25 expletives, including two f-words and 2 uses of the Lords name in vain, once coupled with d***) and the rather suggestive sex scene and almost everything I liked about the movie is negated.

Final Thoughts:

I originally saw a trailer for Adjustment Bureau back in July, when I first saw Inception. The trailer showed me everything I was looking for in a movie; action, romance, a little bit of science-fiction and a great plot, so I was excited.

Unfortunately, my excitement has disappeared, replaced now with an uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach. What could have been an excellent film was ruined by the unnecessary inclusion of a seemingly shoved in religious hating plot element and I left disappointed. The taste of something sweet is alway overrun by something bitter.

When Should You See It? If you can look past the anti-God element, I'd say theaters. If not, wait for it on DVD or just don't see it at all.

Personal Rating: 7 of 10
Plot: 8 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 4 of 10
Spiritual Aspects: 8 of 10
Drugs/Alcohol: 1.5 of 10