Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Anthony Mackie
Directed by: George Nolfi
David Norris is an up and coming politician who is set to become the youngest ever senator when disaster strikes and a story breaks that results in David losing his huge lead. He bumps into Elise, who inspires him to give a brilliant concession speech which in turn makes him a front runner for the next election. He falls head over heels for Elise but a mysterious force that call themselves the Adjustment Bureau are determined to keep them apart.
The Adjustment Bureau was very intelligently written romantic thriller which had a nice splash of sci-fi mixed in too. I feel that the delivery of the story was very well done which left me both intrigued and fascinated as the story unfolded. While it was a very intelligent piece of cinema, it wasn’t very subtle in terms of laying everything out and drilling the point home with repetition. The Adjustment Bureau doesn’t really leave much to the imagination or for the audience to figure out which I suppose can be seen as both a positive and a negative. On one hand, we as an audience won’t come away from this movie in a state of confusion but then the movie doesn’t allow for us to become fully engaged into the story.
Matt Damon is the star of the movie as he plays politician David Norris, and he produces a very good performance and Emily Blunt plays love interest Elise and she was equally as good to watch. The chemistry they shared on screen was great and really added a certain validity to their on screen relationship. Despite how good both leads were, my favourite performance of the movie came in the shape of John Slattery, who plays an integral member of The Adjustment Bureau who are a mysterious organisation who intervene in people’s lives to make sure they stay on their destined path. John Slattery’s character was witty and was just a joy to watch and it was a real shame that he was limited to the first half of the movie only as I’d have liked to have seen more from him.
This movie was the directorial debut of George Nolfi who had previously been a writer of some pretty big movies which include Ocean’s Twelve, The Sentinel and The Bourne Ultimatum. I feel this is an extremely good start to his career as a director and hopefully he’s able to continue churning out some good pieces of cinema.
In conclusion, The Adjustment Bureau was a really intriguing watch with some decent performances from the lead actors but it would’ve been nice to have been left with a little bit of mystery as the plot unfolded without being spoon fed the answers.
7/10
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