It has the science fiction vibes that Inception sort of has too. Well maybe not sci-fi but perhaps something a little more towards the supernatural. The film focuses on the idea of free will, whether we have it or not.
It becomes apparent that we don’t because there are a bunch of guys (no women I’m afraid) who adjust the future by making people make different decisions in life that obviously affect other things in consequence. Who’s changing all of these decisions? Well it’s a body known as the Adjustment Bureau. In other words: God.
It’s a little confusing, you don’t really know what’s going on sometimes, but that’s okay, as nor does the protagonist. Matt Doman plays David Norris, a politician running for office in New York. He meets a girl, Elise, in the male bathroom (don’t ask) just before he gives his losing speech to the voters. The movie decides to go with the old cliché, he instantly falls in love with her even though he‘s known her for about two minutes.
David gives a tremendous speech and all the New Yorkers cheer with glee as he gracefully loses but somehow makes himself favourite for the next election. If only he got the girl’s number. Lucky for him he coincidently meets her the very next day on the bus to work! That certainly was lucky.
Apparently though meeting her on the bus wasn’t part of ‘the plan’. As in God’s plan. God sends these minions in bowler hats out into the world to make sure everything goes according to plan. On that morning a minion called Harry was supposed to make David spill coffee on his shirt so that he would be late for work. He fell asleep on a park bench so he failed. Talk about worst angel ever.
So because of his failure, David gets to work on time and meets Elise again on the way. When he gets to work he finds that everyone is frozen while the bowler hat brigade are doing some crazy futuristic scanning of his colleagues brains. Naturally David freaks out a little and cheeses it. But he cant escape and he ends up in what appears to be a disused warehouse somewhere.
The bowler hat people reveal to him they are The Adjustment Bureau, making changes to peoples choices and what not. Because they’re angels or whatever, they cant just kill him, which is pretty cool, as usually when you get these scenes in movies they just kill him. Yawn. At least this has a twist to is that stops them from doing that. They do however decide to tell him that if he reveals them to the rest of the world then they’ll reset him, turning his brain to jelly and he’ll just exist and that’s all. Cheery. He’s also banned from seeing Elisa again, because it’s not part of the bloody plan. They take away her phone number and burn it, how mean.
David isn’t about to be deterred though and does everything he can to find her again. This involves riding the very same bus to work every single day for three years, until he sees her again by complete chance walking on the outside of the bus. He jumps off the bus and runs after her. He explains to her that he lost her number and she just buys it. They have lunch and thanks to the hat bandits David has to leave to do a speech. She invites him to her dance recital afterwards but the pesky angels make a few changes such as changing the location of the rehearsal.
Undeterred, David tries to find out where the dance group is based. Of course the Adjustment Bureau follow him round, making sure no one will stop to tell him and stopping taxis from picking him up. I’m not really sure how this is done, as seemingly at the beginning they needed to freeze people in time and scan them and what not. Only here they can do without having to perform anything. Just a click of the fingers will suffice.
The Adjustment Bureau have these books that show crazy coding that they can read to see what’s happening in real time and where it leads in accordance with the plan. I don’t really see how they didn’t just use it to find out he hadn’t spilt his coffee earlier in the movie but whatever.
Anyway the main bulk of this movie is based on the two lovers desperately trying to get together. This is becoming a bigger and bigger problem for the Adjustment Bureau as they step up their game to stop him from being with her. They bring in a guy called Thompson played by Terence Stamp who is pretty much perfect for the role he plays. Not that he’s typecast or anything but he fits the role better than any other actor in this film.
See, it turns out that David and Elisa can’t be together as if they are a couple they each won’t fulfil their potential. Turns out David is going to be President which is quite important, and Elisa is going to be a famous dancer, which is pretty much a 2 of Hearts against an Ace of Spades compared to David. Apparently the reason they feel so strongly for each other is because in the original plan they were meant to be together but the plan was changed for reasons unknown.
So in defeat, David leaves Elisa in a hospital without saying goodbye, because that’s for the best apparently, and lives his life without her. Until one day he finds out via a newspaper that Elisa is getting married to her ex. I don’t know why as earlier in the movie she said she wouldn’t settle for anything less than David. But the plan forbids it and she must marry her ex, apparently they can make her want to marry her ex but not make David stop seeking her out.
I don’t get this part if the movie, if their love is so strong or whatever, and they’re meant to be together then why doesn’t she just seek him out? I mean, he’s a politician. You can easily get a hold of him. But she doesn’t ever bother, not even after the bus meeting.
Now, probably one of the better characters in this movie is Harry, the dude who fell asleep in the park earlier on. He has a conflict within himself as to whether or not what the Adjustment Bureau do is right or not. He meets up with David earlier in the movie, mainly to bring some understanding to the whole thing, not just to David but to the audience as well. He meets up with him in secret, either in the rain or out at sea because apparently God can’t see you when your around water. Why? I don’t have a clue. Apparently the fish can sin all they bloody well like. Pirates get a good deal though.
So yes anyway, David meets up with Harry again in the rain to discuss Elisa’s happiness. Turns out she won’t be happy with her ex, surprise surprise, so David decides he’s going to gatecrash the wedding. He manages to do this by using the magic doors the bowler hat brigade use to practically teleport around the city, avoiding Terence Stamp. He borrows Henry’s hat and goes for it, managing to get to Elisa and revealing the Adjustment Bureau to her.
One he does that it all gets a bit “come with me if you want to live” as he legs it with her through several doors to get away from the Bureau. Everything’s going fine, if a little Scooby-Doo, until Elisa decides she’s freaked out and does the whole pathetic “wah-wah what‘s going on?” thing. For crying out loud your being chased by these supernatural beings woman! Do as he says and run!
Anyway, they decide to attempt to go and meet their maker by heading through the door to…heaven, I guess. They run through the library where angels look busy or whatever, we never really know what they’re doing in that room, but are eventually cornered by the Bureau goons. All seems lost so they do the generic “I love you” and kiss for a while. What’s this? It appears their love has made the Bureau goons disappear!
Apparently God changes his mind and decides that they can be together. What? They went though all that and now you’re letting them be together? Fair enough. That’s something about this movie I both like and dislike. The idea that God has no bloody idea about what’s going on in the world, the way he’s so indecisive about things, the way he gives us free will and then decides “actually no, they need to follow a script.”
I just find it hilarious that God gets defeated by chance. That he can control everything, but a chance meeting comes along and oh no can’t control them! You’re God for crying out loud! Last time I checked you could do anything! I don’t really see why they don’t just change David’s thought process to make him not pursue Elisa, wouldn’t that be easier, you can’t say it’s unethical as you’ve been doing it left, right and centre to everyone else in this movie!
I also like the way the angels don’t really know everything, they just follow the orders and, as I said earlier, some even question it all. I wish Harry was in it more as he seemed like a good character to delve into. But he’s just given this supporting role when clearly he’s the character with the most depth.
Speaking of supporting roles: Emily Blunt. She is playing such a secondary character. I mean, its THEIR love, so why is it that David is pretty much in charge of it all. He has the choices whether to pursue it or not, Elisa is just there to be loved should he choose to. It’s a bit lame, and a shame as her character starts off strong but ends up being such a whiney annoying character with no apparent free will or independent thought whatsoever.
After all’s said and done though, The Adjustment Bureau is a good movie. It’s nothing outstanding but it’s a good watch. It keeps you guessing at times but you know pretty much from the beginning that these two will end up together no matter the cost. The thing I enjoyed most about the film though, was the lack of bad guy. Although the Adjustment Bureau are the antagonists in this, they’re not the enemy, no one is, and I find that pretty cool.
Final Verdict: 3 Stars. Don’t expect Bourne or Inception, just enjoy the watch and don’t ask questions, you won’t have them answered. Which is maybe a good thing.
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