Review: The Adjustment Bureau
[feeling: 
deep in thinky thoughts...]
[listening to: Maroon 5 - No Curtain Call]
I saw Adjustment Bureau on Sunday, the movie starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, based off the short story by Philip K. Dick, and it TOTALY WRINKLED MY BRAIN. Enough to warrant my glorious return to LJ. I actually had this review all ready to go that night, but LJ was being a glass bitch and wouldn't let me post it. I digress...
When I first saw the trailer, I was immediately sucked in by the smokin' freaky circus sex chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. It was like five seconds in, and I was all "BROWN-CHICKEN BROWN-COW!!!" Oh, and there was a plot too. Basically David and Elise (Damon and Blunt) are in love, but Agents of Fate, lead by a man called Richardson, are trying to keep them apart for some unknown shady reason. Epicness.
***
If you wanna know more, keep reading! MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
So, pretty early on, it becomes clear that these "Agents of Fate" are actually Angels, and the "Chairman" they are working for - IS GOD. *gasp* I know, right? Pretty heavy shit. I thought so too, and being a Christian I was instantly weary of the theology they were trying to push. Too often, movies portray God as some sort of big bad puppetmaster that we need to escape from, and that's what this movie was shaping up to be. It bothered me, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did, because the final message of the movie is worth waiting for... More on that later.
So David, a New York senate hopeful, meets Elise on the night his campaign comes to a crushing end because of some shenanigans he got into that led voters to think he was "immature..." Basically he mooned someone. Thinking he's alone, he enters the men's room to prepare his concession speech. Elise, who is hiding in one of the stalls, accidentally reveals herself and sheepishly tells him that security is looking for her because she crashed a wedding upstairs. The two start an adorable conversation where she tells him that his opponent is a tool and that she would totally vote for someone who dropped his pants. He asks her if she's a registered voter, and she answers in her sweet little accent, "Do I sound like I am?" They then start making out like two bunnies just released from prison. Seriously, their flame? IS ON FIRE. Interruptions ensue, and Elise has to book it before security finds her. The impact is already made though, and David's speech is off book and totally inspiring.
Some time later he sees her again on the bus, and the flirty banter is back with a vengeance. Harry, one of the Angel!Agents (played by the awesome Anthony Mackie of "We Are Marshall") is supposed to stop David from boarding this bus, but is asleep on the job (he's in a spiritual and existential funk, okay?) so David's life goes all "Sliding Doors" and shit. He not only gets his forbidden dream girl's number, but he makes it to the office in time to find the Agents messin' with people's noggins. He tries to run, but... David... come on. They use their angel powers to cheat.
At first Richardson presents himself and the Agents as all powerful and inescapable. He says they can direct everything and everyone, read minds, and that if David ever reveals them, they will wipe his brain and everyone will think he's a bloody nutter. He then tells him to forget Elise and burns her card. Because he's a total jackwagon. Harry soon debunks this thankfully, and lets David know that what Richardson said was a scare tactic to keep David on his set path. They can't read minds, they can't control life (only moments), and their power is diluted by water, randomly. They are also rendered powerless without their ever present Pimp!Hats. Apparently these angels are Indiana Jones, or Benton Fraser... Basically they are just carrying out a plan designed by God, following orders only, and they have no real idea why David is not meant to be with Elise. This put to rest quite a few of my initial questions, but didn't answer the biggest, which was why the H was God crushing love? REAL love!
Three years pass, and totally by chance he sees Elise on the street one day. He begs her forgiveness for never calling, saying he was mugged and lost her number (which is true) and after giving him a hard time, Elise decides to give him another chance. The Agents are on to this right away, but David and Elise's LURV cannot be tamed. David swears to them that he will never give up. His family died when he was young, and Elise is the first time since then that he hasn't felt alone. After the lovemaking (oh my) Elise shares with him that she was engaged when they met on the night his first campaign ended, and what she felt for him caused her to end her engagement. She says he scares her, but he promises he will never hurt her, and for a while he keeps that promise. That is until the Agents call in the big guns - Thompson (played to creepshow British perfection by Terence Stamp). Thompson tells David that he is supposed to stay away from Elise because he is fated to become President one day, and that she is meant to become a world famous dancer. If they stay together they will become sad apathetic turds and never accomplish anything more than what they already have. David was pretty much like "So the hell what?" and so was I. What good is all of that without love? Power and fame are of the world, so why would God want that for these people when it plainly states in the Bible that the greatest gift he ever gave us was love. I was waiting for a twist...
Anycrap, Thompson causes Elise to fall at one of her recitals, and she's injured slightly. Nothing she can't recover from, but enough to get his point across, and to scare the shit out of David. By even being around her, he is killing her dream. It scares him enough to leave her, but not before clinging to her for dear life and telling her he is happy for her. Poor Elise can tell something is wrong, but she doesn't know how wrong until David goes to "make some phonecalls" and doesn't come back. I'm pretty much dry heaving like Jim Carrey at this point, and so are David and Elise.
For 11 months they are apart while David runs his new campaign. It looks as though he has chosen to accept his predetermined path, until he learns that Elise, who is gaining recognition, is marrying another man. It's all over at that point, and the Matt Damon tears are flowing and I'm screaming in my head for him to go save his woman from this stupid silver medal she's about to marry. I may have made noises. I'm not proud of this.
Harry wibbles too, because he's a total D&E shipper. He may be an Angel!Agent, but he has feelings too, dammit. Harry tells David that the real reason they won't achieve their dreams if they are together is because their love would be enough to make them happy, and their dreams won't be as important anymore. FINALLY someone said it! With a little help from Harry and his Pimp!Hat, David is able to use the Angel portals to race across New York to stop the wedding. He can skip across NY easily as long as he turns the handles clockwise. To turn them counter clockwise would lead him straight into the realm of the Adjustment Bureau. So he runs, avoiding anyone in a hat, and staying in the rain as much as possible to escape detection. He makes it to Elise at the court house where she is hiding in the bathroom (I'm sensing a pattern) trying to recover from a serious case of cold feet. She is understandably pissed that he abandoned her in a hospital, and screams at him that no one has ever hurt her as much as him. It becomes clear pretty quickly that something more is happening though, when he knocks out an agent and shows her his tracky book. She's listening now, but he's broken the cardinal rule: never talk about fight club reveal the existence of the AB. Agents are descending on them to wipe his mind, but David tells Elise he would rather spend the short time he has left with her, than have her go on thinking he doesn't love her. Then they haul ass.
He's all in at this point, and shows her the portals and explains to her why all of this is happening. He then gives her the choice: never see him or the Agents pursuing them again, or stay with him, find the Chairman and convince him to change their fates! She chooses David, because SHYEAH, why would you want to go back to mundane crap existence after meeting this man? The only way you could do better than fucking Matt Damon is fucking Ben Afflek and he's not in this movie. They find a door, and turn the handle to the left, entering the proverbial lion's den (see what I did there?). There are agents everywhere, and at this point I'm equating their looks in my mind to the friggin Gestapo. They run until there's nowhere left to go and find themselves up on the roof, surrounded. This is it. Rather than facing their fate, they turn to each other and profess their love. EPIC SPINNING CAMERA KISS. Seriously, they just cling to each other for dear life, and when they step back... they are alone. WHAAAAAAAT?
Thompson appears, and goads them about their naive attempt to find the Chairman, but just then Harry steps out like a boss, and reveals that because these two crazy kids beat all the odds to be together, the Chairman has rewritten their fates for them. They are free to be together! :D The agents have no choice but to relent. Honestly, I think the Chairman's plan all along was for them to be together, and everything else was just roadblocks to test their metal, if I may. It was all a test. And we know how God loves testing people... Isaac much? Job much?
But THAT'S the lesson! That God gives us a free will, and no matter what, we can decide to let the world choose our path for us, or we can fight, and never stop fighting for the ones we love. David and Elise defied every obstacle to be together, and in the end they were rewarded for it. They truly were the makers of their own destiny.
This conclusion really did make the whole movie for me, and I would LOVE to see it again to pick up on any nuances I missed. Overall I'd say B+, with extra cookies for Damon and Blunt being sexy bitches together. It's a movie that will keep you guessing and keep you thinking about it long after it's over. Highly recommended. :D
deep in thinky thoughts...]
[listening to: Maroon 5 - No Curtain Call]
I saw Adjustment Bureau on Sunday, the movie starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, based off the short story by Philip K. Dick, and it TOTALY WRINKLED MY BRAIN. Enough to warrant my glorious return to LJ. I actually had this review all ready to go that night, but LJ was being a glass bitch and wouldn't let me post it. I digress...
When I first saw the trailer, I was immediately sucked in by the smokin' freaky circus sex chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. It was like five seconds in, and I was all "BROWN-CHICKEN BROWN-COW!!!" Oh, and there was a plot too. Basically David and Elise (Damon and Blunt) are in love, but Agents of Fate, lead by a man called Richardson, are trying to keep them apart for some unknown shady reason. Epicness.
***
If you wanna know more, keep reading! MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
So, pretty early on, it becomes clear that these "Agents of Fate" are actually Angels, and the "Chairman" they are working for - IS GOD. *gasp* I know, right? Pretty heavy shit. I thought so too, and being a Christian I was instantly weary of the theology they were trying to push. Too often, movies portray God as some sort of big bad puppetmaster that we need to escape from, and that's what this movie was shaping up to be. It bothered me, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did, because the final message of the movie is worth waiting for... More on that later.
So David, a New York senate hopeful, meets Elise on the night his campaign comes to a crushing end because of some shenanigans he got into that led voters to think he was "immature..." Basically he mooned someone. Thinking he's alone, he enters the men's room to prepare his concession speech. Elise, who is hiding in one of the stalls, accidentally reveals herself and sheepishly tells him that security is looking for her because she crashed a wedding upstairs. The two start an adorable conversation where she tells him that his opponent is a tool and that she would totally vote for someone who dropped his pants. He asks her if she's a registered voter, and she answers in her sweet little accent, "Do I sound like I am?" They then start making out like two bunnies just released from prison. Seriously, their flame? IS ON FIRE. Interruptions ensue, and Elise has to book it before security finds her. The impact is already made though, and David's speech is off book and totally inspiring.
Some time later he sees her again on the bus, and the flirty banter is back with a vengeance. Harry, one of the Angel!Agents (played by the awesome Anthony Mackie of "We Are Marshall") is supposed to stop David from boarding this bus, but is asleep on the job (he's in a spiritual and existential funk, okay?) so David's life goes all "Sliding Doors" and shit. He not only gets his forbidden dream girl's number, but he makes it to the office in time to find the Agents messin' with people's noggins. He tries to run, but... David... come on. They use their angel powers to cheat.
At first Richardson presents himself and the Agents as all powerful and inescapable. He says they can direct everything and everyone, read minds, and that if David ever reveals them, they will wipe his brain and everyone will think he's a bloody nutter. He then tells him to forget Elise and burns her card. Because he's a total jackwagon. Harry soon debunks this thankfully, and lets David know that what Richardson said was a scare tactic to keep David on his set path. They can't read minds, they can't control life (only moments), and their power is diluted by water, randomly. They are also rendered powerless without their ever present Pimp!Hats. Apparently these angels are Indiana Jones, or Benton Fraser... Basically they are just carrying out a plan designed by God, following orders only, and they have no real idea why David is not meant to be with Elise. This put to rest quite a few of my initial questions, but didn't answer the biggest, which was why the H was God crushing love? REAL love!
Three years pass, and totally by chance he sees Elise on the street one day. He begs her forgiveness for never calling, saying he was mugged and lost her number (which is true) and after giving him a hard time, Elise decides to give him another chance. The Agents are on to this right away, but David and Elise's LURV cannot be tamed. David swears to them that he will never give up. His family died when he was young, and Elise is the first time since then that he hasn't felt alone. After the lovemaking (oh my) Elise shares with him that she was engaged when they met on the night his first campaign ended, and what she felt for him caused her to end her engagement. She says he scares her, but he promises he will never hurt her, and for a while he keeps that promise. That is until the Agents call in the big guns - Thompson (played to creepshow British perfection by Terence Stamp). Thompson tells David that he is supposed to stay away from Elise because he is fated to become President one day, and that she is meant to become a world famous dancer. If they stay together they will become sad apathetic turds and never accomplish anything more than what they already have. David was pretty much like "So the hell what?" and so was I. What good is all of that without love? Power and fame are of the world, so why would God want that for these people when it plainly states in the Bible that the greatest gift he ever gave us was love. I was waiting for a twist...
Anycrap, Thompson causes Elise to fall at one of her recitals, and she's injured slightly. Nothing she can't recover from, but enough to get his point across, and to scare the shit out of David. By even being around her, he is killing her dream. It scares him enough to leave her, but not before clinging to her for dear life and telling her he is happy for her. Poor Elise can tell something is wrong, but she doesn't know how wrong until David goes to "make some phonecalls" and doesn't come back. I'm pretty much dry heaving like Jim Carrey at this point, and so are David and Elise.
For 11 months they are apart while David runs his new campaign. It looks as though he has chosen to accept his predetermined path, until he learns that Elise, who is gaining recognition, is marrying another man. It's all over at that point, and the Matt Damon tears are flowing and I'm screaming in my head for him to go save his woman from this stupid silver medal she's about to marry. I may have made noises. I'm not proud of this.
Harry wibbles too, because he's a total D&E shipper. He may be an Angel!Agent, but he has feelings too, dammit. Harry tells David that the real reason they won't achieve their dreams if they are together is because their love would be enough to make them happy, and their dreams won't be as important anymore. FINALLY someone said it! With a little help from Harry and his Pimp!Hat, David is able to use the Angel portals to race across New York to stop the wedding. He can skip across NY easily as long as he turns the handles clockwise. To turn them counter clockwise would lead him straight into the realm of the Adjustment Bureau. So he runs, avoiding anyone in a hat, and staying in the rain as much as possible to escape detection. He makes it to Elise at the court house where she is hiding in the bathroom (I'm sensing a pattern) trying to recover from a serious case of cold feet. She is understandably pissed that he abandoned her in a hospital, and screams at him that no one has ever hurt her as much as him. It becomes clear pretty quickly that something more is happening though, when he knocks out an agent and shows her his tracky book. She's listening now, but he's broken the cardinal rule: never talk about fight club reveal the existence of the AB. Agents are descending on them to wipe his mind, but David tells Elise he would rather spend the short time he has left with her, than have her go on thinking he doesn't love her. Then they haul ass.
He's all in at this point, and shows her the portals and explains to her why all of this is happening. He then gives her the choice: never see him or the Agents pursuing them again, or stay with him, find the Chairman and convince him to change their fates! She chooses David, because SHYEAH, why would you want to go back to mundane crap existence after meeting this man? The only way you could do better than fucking Matt Damon is fucking Ben Afflek and he's not in this movie. They find a door, and turn the handle to the left, entering the proverbial lion's den (see what I did there?). There are agents everywhere, and at this point I'm equating their looks in my mind to the friggin Gestapo. They run until there's nowhere left to go and find themselves up on the roof, surrounded. This is it. Rather than facing their fate, they turn to each other and profess their love. EPIC SPINNING CAMERA KISS. Seriously, they just cling to each other for dear life, and when they step back... they are alone. WHAAAAAAAT?
Thompson appears, and goads them about their naive attempt to find the Chairman, but just then Harry steps out like a boss, and reveals that because these two crazy kids beat all the odds to be together, the Chairman has rewritten their fates for them. They are free to be together! :D The agents have no choice but to relent. Honestly, I think the Chairman's plan all along was for them to be together, and everything else was just roadblocks to test their metal, if I may. It was all a test. And we know how God loves testing people... Isaac much? Job much?
But THAT'S the lesson! That God gives us a free will, and no matter what, we can decide to let the world choose our path for us, or we can fight, and never stop fighting for the ones we love. David and Elise defied every obstacle to be together, and in the end they were rewarded for it. They truly were the makers of their own destiny.
This conclusion really did make the whole movie for me, and I would LOVE to see it again to pick up on any nuances I missed. Overall I'd say B+, with extra cookies for Damon and Blunt being sexy bitches together. It's a movie that will keep you guessing and keep you thinking about it long after it's over. Highly recommended. :D