The Adjustment Bureau | Directed by George Nolfi
The first time I saw a trailer for The Adjustment Bureau I immediately thought, “Well, that looks pretty much like Dark City.” And on a superficial level they are similar. They’re both high concept science fiction with a shared premise: there exists a mysterious group which more or less controls the lives of its world’s inhabitants. Both films use a lead character — who by way of a glitch in the system sees behind the curtain and attempts to change his fate — to consider what it means to be human when all is preordained. Where they ultimately differ (beyond general differences in the respective stories) is in the execution, and sadly, The Adjustment Bureau doesn’t deliver nearly as well as the Alex Proyas film.
After a sort of clumsy start, The Adjustment Bureau regains its footing by the time the characters played by Matt Damon and Emily Blunt meet some 15 minutes in. It’s genuinely interesting and even intriguing for much of the first two acts. Unfortunately it devolves greatly in the third act, the entire film undermined by an incredibly silly plot device used to generate some late action. I won’t get into it because it would 1) be very difficult to explain and 2) give away a bit too much of the story. Let’s just say it involves hats. That’s probably all you need to know, and it’s just as ridiculous as it sounds.
It’s too bad because in here somewhere is a genuinely good film. It’s very well acted and nearly all of the characters are likable - both the good guys and the baddies (Terence Stamp is as always great - Kneel before Zod!). Damon and Blunt deliver solid performances and have real chemistry. But oddly enough the love story, the primary focus in Bureau, isn’t nearly as affecting as the one in Dark City. And Dark City was a more squarely sci-fi noir thriller.
All this isn’t to say Bureau is bad, just that it isn’t nearly as good as it could have been and probably not worth a trip to the theater.
