"I can go through this door alone. You'll never see me or the people chasing us again, or you can come with me, and I don't know what's on the other side, but you'd be next to me and that's all I've wanted since the minute I met you."
Another film I really wanted to see but never got around toseeing at the time. I only knew the basic plot outline, that Matt Damon’scharacter (David Norris) and Emily Blunt’s character (Elise Sellas) were on therun from some sort of group (the Adjustment Bureau) and that was all I knewgoing into this film. My biggest regret with this film is that I haven’t see itsooner, as I thought it was amazing, it was only once I had finished watchingit and researching it for this review that I found it was based on a Philip K.Dick short story, which makes sense once you watch the film, but also explains alot of the themes present in the film.
The story starts with David and Elise meeting and kissingand then falling in love, but David doesn’t get her name, but she inspires himto give a very honest and frank speech following his unsuccessful run for USSenate. The film flashes forward to the next month where Harry Mitchell(Anthony Mackie) is given an assignment by his boss Richardson (John Slattery)to ensure Daivd spills coffee on his shirt making him late to a meeting. Harryfalls asleep and David get doesn’t spill his coffee and makes it on to his bus,where he meets Elise again and this time gets her number, however when David arrives at work he find his friendCharlie frozen in time and being examined by unfamiliar men in suits, he triedto run away but is caught by them and is taken to a warehouse. At the warehouseRichardson explains to him that the men are from The Adjustment Bureau and thatthe alter peoples paths and in the case of David’s friends their decisionmaking process to make sure that their life follow “The Plan” a documents setout by “the Chairman”. The Bureau then take Elise’s number from David and tellhim that he was not meant to ever meet Elise again; they also warn him that ifhe ever reveals the Bureau to anyone else he will be "reset"(basicallyhave his mind wiped), he agrees to keep the Bureau and their activities secretand is allowed to leave.
For the next three years David rides the same bus in thehopes of meeting Elise and he finally does when he sees her walking beside thebus, she is initially dismissive of him and had assumed that he was alreadyseeing someone when he asked for her number, he tells he that his wallet wasstolen and that he lost her number and that why he couldn’t call her, he learnsthat she dances for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and plans on says he’llattend her performance later that evening. The Bureau tries to stop him frombuilding their relationship by causing their schedules to separate them. Davidraces across town, fighting the Bureau's abilities to "control hischoices" to ensure he will meet Elise. During the chase the Bureau usesordinary doorways to travel instantly to locations many blocks away. Seniorofficial Thompson takes over David's adjustment and takes him to the warehouse,where David argues he has the right to choose his own path, here Thompsonexplains how humanity has previously had free will, but each time it has gonewrong and reveals how the Bureau were behind mankind’s greatest achievements. Thompsonimplies that without Elise's influence David might become President of theUnited States and benefit the world, and warns that if he stays with her, hewill ruin both of their futures. Thompson causes Elise to sprain her ankle at aperformance to demonstrate his power, and David abandons her at the hospital tosave them from the fate Thompson described.
Eleven months later, Charlie tells David of Elise's upcoming wedding as he campaigns again. Harry contacts David via secret meetings in therain and near water, which prevents the Bureau from tracking them. Harryreveals that Thompson exaggerated the negative consequences of David andElise's relationship, and teaches David how to use doors to teleport, and evadethe Bureau's adjustments. David reached Elise just before her wedding and revealsthe Bureau's existence to her, and shows her how he travels through doors. TheBureau pursues them across New York City. David decides to find the Chairman toend the chase; Elise isn’t sure, but agrees to go with David. They enter theBureau's offices and eventually find themselves trapped and surrounded on theobservation deck of the GE Building. They declare their love for each other andkiss before David can be reset. When they let go of each other, the Bureaumembers have gone. Thompson appears but is interrupted by Harry, who shows hima revised plan from the Chairman that allows David and Elise to stay together.After commending them for showing such devotion to each other, Harry tells thecouple they are free to leave. The film concludes with David and Elise walkingthrough the streets, as Harry speculates that the Chairman's plan may be toprepare humanity so it can write its own plans.
The first thing that stuck me about this film was that itwas a love story, I really wasn't expecting that from the trailers or movieposters, also its impossible not to mention the religious symbolism in this film.The Bureau play the part of angels and the Chairman is God, these behind thelooking glass style movies where it’s revealed that mankind is being guided bysomeone else’s plan is in some ways is a nice thought, as in everything reallydoes happen for a reason, but it’s just as equally disconcerting that thechoices you make are an illusion and could have been made for you already by someoneelse. The love story is actually really believable and the chemistry betweenDamon and Blunt is very believable and doesn't ever feel forced.
I loved this movie, it really gripped me and had methinking. As a Philip K. Dick inspired story it can join a great collection ofmovies such as Minority Report, Total Recall and Blade Runner. I encourage youstrongly to check out this film if you haven’t seen it already, I’m going togive this film a 9/10 it’s nearly perfect to me.
