The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Directed by George Nolfi
A man glimpses the future Fate has planned for him – and chooses to fight for his own destiny. Battling the powerful Adjustment Bureau across, under and through the streets of New York, he risks his destined greatness to be with the only woman he's ever loved.
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Wearing trench-coats and ’50s-era fedoras, they move amongst us much like the angels in Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987), but with the goal of “nudging” or “adjusting” us from time to time to make sure that we are on the right track (sometimes this involves causing a spilled cup of coffee, other times it involves literally freezing time and altering people’s minds).
The Agents overtly resemble the angelic protagonists of Wings of Desire — as well as the Agents of The Matrix; are they angels, and, if so, how benevolent are they?
Antecedents for The Adjustment Bureau can be found in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s near-career best romantic fantasy, A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a., Stairway to Heaven), released sixty-five years, and Wim Wenders’ 1986 post-modern angels-in-Berlin fantasy, Wings of Desire.
There are echoes of “Wings of Desire,” “Dark City,” and “The Matrix” in “The Adjustment Bureau,” which is dangerous for a debuting director.
They get assigned odd menial tasks on Earth, like wandering around listening to the thoughts of people with whom they can never interact (Wings of Desire), keeping suicidal drunks from offing themselves (It's a Wonderful Life), and trying to get notoriously fickle humans to fall (and stay) in love (A Life Less Ordinary).
We actually much prefer the beneficent and compassionate angels in Wings of Desire or the playful ones in Michael to the overbearing presences in this film.
He (or she) is obviously a God figure, though it might be possible to interpret him (or her) as a powerful intelligence akin to, variously, the planetary oyeresu spirits of C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, the mysterious alien benefactors of humanity in 2001: A Space Odyssey, or a Gnostic demiurge figure, a cosmic equivalent to The Truman Show’s Christof.
Although The Adjustment Bureau ultimately doesn’t explore its intriguing science-fiction/thriller scenario to the extent of similarly themed films such as The Truman Show and The Matrix, it operates far more successfully as a romance.
This is the kind of obvious, adolescent science fiction premise you find in the work of Andrew Niccol, who wrote the screenplays for Gattaca (1997) and The Truman Show (1998).
The buzz: At times "The Adjustment Bureau" feels like a remake of "Serendipity" if the lovebirds were being overseen by the creeps in "Dark City" (with maybe a few teaspoons of "The Truman Show" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind").
The tone of the film veers wildly from paranoia to predestination, making it an unsuccessful marriage of The Manchurian Candidate with It's a Wonderful Life.
Anyway, the point is that you've seen this sort of thing before, all the way back to It's A Wonderful Life, even if its fake-serious energy and matte finish will temporarily and entertainingly trick you into thinking otherwise.
They get assigned odd menial tasks on Earth, like wandering around listening to the thoughts of people with whom they can never interact (Wings of Desire), keeping suicidal drunks from offing themselves (It's a Wonderful Life), and trying to get notoriously fickle humans to fall (and stay) in love (A Life Less Ordinary).
Based on a Philip K. Dick story, this metaphysical fable takes place in a world somewhere between The Matrix and It's a Wonderful Life, where David (Damon), an up-and-coming politician, bumps into Elise (Emily Blunt) as he rehearses a concession speech in a men's room.
In It’s a Wonderful Life , George Bailey discovers, with a little supernatural assistance, that he has a very precise destiny and that one misstep could generate a radically different future.
Imagine if " The Matrix " was not crafted to satisfy someone who watched Bruce Lee movies and read comic books while procrastinating on a computer science degree, but instead made for the enjoyment of someone who watched Douglas Sirk melodramas and read Harlequin romance novels while procrastinating on a theology degree.
The plot is a hash of " The Matrix ," " Inception " and " The Manchurian Candidate ," with a little bit of religious allegory thrown in for good measure.
The Agents overtly resemble the angelic protagonists of Wings of Desire — as well as the Agents of The Matrix; are they angels, and, if so, how benevolent are they?
If Frank Capra made The Matrix , it would be The Adjustment Bureau.
These aren't the Agents from "The Matrix," but rather just a couple of accountants who can't do their jobs.
It’s like The Matrix, as remade by the Hallmark Channel.
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Roughly inspired by a 1954 short story from the same writer who had his works turned into the films " Blade Runner ," " Total Recall " and " Paycheck ," " The Adjustment Bureau " offers what science-fiction fans will recognize as Philip K. Dick in a box: conspiracy, reality-bending, big brainy questions and little weird details.
Heavy topics are gingerly handled in "The Adjustment Bureau," possibly the breeziest movie yet to be adapted from a story by Philip K. Dick , the drug-fueled, possibly psychotic science-fiction writer who also inspired "Blade Runner," "Total Recall" and "Minority Report."
I'm tempted to rank The Adjustment Bureau as one of my top favorites -- up there with Minority Report and Blade Runner -- simply because it's brave enough to be a bit loopy, and to hang its entire emotional throughline on a passionate romance.
It's the directorial debut of George Nolfi, who adapted the script from a story by Philip K. Dick, the mind behind "Blade Runner" and "Minority Report."
After scrubbing Dick’s concept of its paranoid underpinnings, writer-director George Nolfi is left with the setup for an old-fashioned supernatural romance like Topper or The Bishop’s Wife, plus a central couple with unusually strong chemistry.
It doesn’t excuse The Adjustment Bureau’s lazy, literal Deus Ex Machina conclusion, which throws away any good will that was built up as the movie hinted at working its way through Dick’s normal themes of government and corporate control, and how controlling our impulses is how the world will eventually collapse into a 1984-style police state.
That’s a daring choice, and it has worked in fantasy romance movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and What Dreams May Come.
In that regard, "The Adjustment Bureau" reminded me of "What Dreams May Come," in which a dead Robin Williams goes to heaven, decides he doesn't like it, and starts to complain, like a pampered celebrity in a three-star hotel.
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Upon reflection, I think this is all for the good: better for these concept-heavy sci-fi thrillers with pot-addled-freshmen-late-night-bull-session philosophies to dismiss themselves & save the rest of us the work: it's been a scant eight years since The Matrices Reloaded and Revolutions demonstrated in a particularly harsh way what happens when filmmakers take faux-profound ideas too seriously (hell, it's been a scant eight months since Inception , depending on your tolerance for that movie).
The plot is a hash of " The Matrix ," " Inception " and " The Manchurian Candidate ," with a little bit of religious allegory thrown in for good measure.
A chase involving magical doors that can instantly take you from MoMA to the outfield at Yankee Stadium might bring to mind “Inception.”
Like “Inception,” this movie is in love with its own mechanics.
The bigger idea of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception’’ was just as muddy.
Antecedents for The Adjustment Bureau can be found in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s near-career best romantic fantasy, A Matter of Life and Death (a.k.a., Stairway to Heaven), released sixty-five years, and Wim Wenders’ 1986 post-modern angels-in-Berlin fantasy, Wings of Desire.