This is a romantic thriller, driven by a sci-fi element but is so devoid of imagination that it’s really just another story about bad guys chasing good guys. There is a great deal of dialogue, much of which is exposition about a fantasy world that lacks magic and, in the end, all this film really delivers are some great visuals of New York City.
David Norris (Matt Damon) is a New York politician who loses his chance of a seat in the U.S. Senate due to unorthodox behavior. He’s still dealing with this disappointment when he meets and becomes besotted with Elise Selias (Emily Blunt), but his plans to have a relationship with her are thwarted by a group of mysterious men. David discovers they are from an extra-terrestrial organization called the Adjustment Bureau and are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that everyone meets the destiny that has been mapped out for them.
The writer tries to make the two main characters memorable right at the beginning by getting each of them to do something outrageous but after this they revert to their sensible, rather ordinary selves, so these initial introductions feel like cheap shots. The back story we are fed about David is tragic but comes off as a clunky attempt to make him an empathetic figure, telling us nothing about how these events made him the man he has become. Facts and jobs are meaningless without a link to their psychological impact; character doesn’t come from without, but from within.
Creating the personification of Fate, which is what the Adjustment Bureau is, is a heady task, and conjures up visions of ethereal bodies and celestial voices that whisper words of infinite wisdom and reveal to us the secrets that have eluded us even though we have looked so hard. But what we actually get is a bunch of hard-knocks in raincoats and fedoras, accompanied by an entourage zipped up in clinging leather body suits and crash helmets, none of which is quite the spiritual experience we would expect from an encounter with destiny.
The message in this film seems to be that our lives are all mapped out but, if we feel passionately enough about something, we can renegotiate the plan. Personally, I don’t think trying to derail fate is a great idea mostly because it sounds dangerous and, as we all know, when we make plans, God’s looking down, laughing his head off.
RELEASE DATES
Bosnia – 3 March 2011
Greece – 3 March 2011
Malaysia – 3 March 2011
Russia – 3 March 2011
Singapore- 3 March 2011
Thailand – 3 March 2011
Canada – 4 March 2011
Estonia – 4 March 2011
Phlipns – 4 March 2011
Poland – 4 March 2011
Spain – 4 March 2011
UK – 4 March 2011
USA – 4 March 2011
Denmark – 10 March 2011
Germany – 10 March 2011
Portugal – 10 March 2011
Slovenia – 10 March 2011
Finland – 11 March 2011
Iceland – 11 March 2011
Norway – 11 March 2011
Sweden – 11 March 2011
Egypt – 16 March 2011
Hong Kong- 17 March 2011
Belgium – 23 March 2011
France – 23 March 2011
Nethlands- 24 March 2011
Hungary – 31 March 2011
Italy – 27 May 2011
Japan – 27 May 2011
