Skipping over heavy philosophical issues with an appreciably light and frothy touch, The Adjustment Bureau stakes a claim to being the most accessible adaptation of a Phillip K. Dick story to date. Forget the posters blaring ‘Bourne Meets Inception!’ It’s nothing like either of those blockbusters, despite starring Matt Damon from the former and grappling with territory vaguely similar to the latter. What first time director George Nolfi has actually done with the film is use Dick’s sci-fi trappings as a mere backdrop to a tale of forbidden love. The result, while not entirely successful, remains entertaining throughout and benefits from strong chemistry between its leading players.
Damon, in yet another example of understated versatility, plays ambitious New York politican David Norris whose popularity is waning after a recent spike. Desiring to land a seat in the US senate, an apparently chance meeting with dancer Elise (Emily Blunt, dynamic and alluring) in a bathroom forces him to re-assess a vital speech to the voters. The results send his popularity soaring and one assumes he’ll never meet the mystery woman again. Until a chance mistake means he does on a bus, forcing the agents of fate, The Adjustment Bureau themselves, to step in and explain the plan they have laid out for David. It turns out he and Elise aren’t meant to be together, but David, having had unique access to a world unseen, believes otherwise.
Less head-scratchingly thoughtful than Blade Runner and lacking the popcorn allure of Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau (greatly expanded from Dick’s story The Adjustment Team) is nevertheless compulsively watchable. It’s a refreshing change to see a human angle being put on a fantastical premise, and Damon and Blunt are terrific together, a duo so winning that it doesn’t take long for the viewer to get on their side. However, one of the film’s intriguing propositions is that perhaps the agents of fate are subjected to fate and chance themselves. Charismatic actors like Anthony Mackie and John Slattery benefit from the streak of wit in Nolfi’s screenplay which suggests the difficult logistics inherent in governing the fate of one man who doesn’t want to play ball. An especially dazzling sequence features an inter-dimensional chase across Manhattan as the agents attempt to catch up with their quarry.
Eventually, it starts to bog down with exposition and yet even then can’t quite wriggle out of the conundrums it gets itself into. It’s best remembered less for the nitty gritty and more for the wider picture: will Damon and Blunt make it together? Only a real cynic would deny such charismatic, decent people a chance at happiness and it’s this human dimension that grips the most, both actors selling the premise beautifully. Aided and abetted by juicy support turns (including a commanding Terence Stamp who explains the history of the Bureau in one of the film’s most memorable scenes), a textural, rhythmic score from Thomas Newman and some nifty on-location photography (goodness knows how difficult that was to manage), the film is ultimately commendable for its warm intelligence, which, miraculously, is never patronizing or laboured.
Rating: 7/10
