ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, THE (2010)

Genre: Thriller
Director: George Nolfi
Cast: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, Daniel Dae Kim, Michael Kelly, John Slattery, Anthony Ruivivar
RunTime: 1 hr 46 mins
Released By: UIP
Rating: PG (Scene Of Intimacy)
Official Website: http://www.theadjustmentbureau.com/

Opening Day: 3 March 2011

Synopsis: Do we control our destiny, or do unseen forces manipulate us? Matt Damon stars in the thriller "The Adjustment Bureau" as a man who glimpses the future Fate has planned for him and realizes he wants something else. To get it, he must pursue the only woman he's ever loved across, under and through the streets of modern-day New York.

On the brink of winning a seat in the U.S. Senate, ambitious politician David Norris (Damon) meets beautiful contemporary ballet dancer Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt)-a woman like none he's ever known. But just as he realizes he's falling for her, mysterious men conspire to keep the two apart.

David learns he is up against the agents of Fate itself-the men of The Adjustment Bureau-who will do everything in their considerable power to prevent David and Elise from being together. In the face of overwhelming odds, he must either let her go and accept a predetermined path...or risk everything to defy Fate and be with her.

Movie Review:

Here comes a fun if occasionally clumsy sci-fi romantic drama that isn't too taxing on the brain. Although it is less cerebral than your average sci-fier, you're in for a rollicking good time nonetheless thanks to the electrifying chemistry between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. When they look into each other's eyes, there is a gratifying sense that the deep love they hold for each other is unblemished. It is absolutely cinema nirvana when you believe the love that exists between them. It makes everything that doesn't quite match up to the earnest romance, i.e. uninspired soundtrack and simplistic denouement, easier to swallow.

Though she was disposable in Joe Johnston's atrocious Wolfman, Blunt proves she has the mettle to take on a leading lady role. And much of this movie works because of her, even though we can't discount the stoical and dependable presence of good guy, Matt Damon. Flitting from cheeky to graceful to vulnerable, Blunt seems to slip into the role with great ease. The role was clearly tailormade for her.

Though the central romance sizzles, the same cannot be said about the plot. Granted that its brew of sci-fi and romance will initially strike you as intriguing, the more the movie reveals its plan for the leads, the more it all strikes you as déjà vu – you've probably seen some elements in a previous movie. And if you did your homework, it's actually adapted from Philip K. Dick's 1954 short story, The Adjustment Team. This would likely mean the source material has been stretched thin, especially over the movie's nearly 100-minute runtime. Truly, the movie does feel slightly padded out especially towards the end, but not terribly.

Thanks to the economical directorial hands of debutant George Nolfi, he manages to keep hold the audience's interest by filling the screentime with Damon and Blunt canoodling and their entertaining repartee. Even the welcome snatches of whimsy involving the workings of The Adjustment Bureau, e.g. teleporting through doors, keeps proceedings interesting.

But by the end, you will feel slightly cheated. That's because from the exhilarating journey that you've taken, you would have expected a more thought-provocative ending. Maybe the studio forces didn't have the balls to go against mainstream taste. But still, it isn't your harebrained chuck-to-the-early-year-release flop!

So it seems my review didn't give you a smidgen of the plot. Well, that's because the less you know about Bureau, the more you will enjoy it. But then, you would probably have read the above synopsis.

Movie Rating:



(I'll just be Blunt – all other leading actresses can go to hell!)

Review by Adrian Sim