David invites Elise to come along because he doesn't want to let her out of his sight, but she tells him she has to go rehearse for her big show later that night. Then immediately after that she says “Actually, I just heard they're moving my rehearsal to Pier 17, right next to the bridge.” Huh? What is going on? SLOW DOWN MOVIE!
We see the angels
are able to send fake texts to people's phones, so it's safe to
assume this is how they got Charlie to the cafe and Elise to learn
her practice session was being moved. It would have maybe been nice
to SHOW them getting the texts, as this comes off so abrupt in the
movie. The pace of this scene is so fast I had to rewind it a couple
of times to make sure I didn't miss anything. Repeat: I had to rewind
a talky scene! This scene had more action than the entire
the
film Max Payne.
Before he's
sprinted off by Charlie to the bridge, David tells Elisa he won't let
anything come between them again. This is supposed to be all touching
and romantic, but again, THEY HAVE NOTHING BETWEEN THEM to inspire
this kind of dialogue. I suppose you could make the case for “love
at first sight” but come on... this movie is way smarter than that.
David gives his
speech while Elisa gets a text telling her the rehearsal has been
moved to Cedar Lake. Oh, they show this one but not the one she had
to have got a bit ago? Rhargh, After this speech David spots two of
the angels in a nearby building, rushing off to Pier 17. He finds the
door locked with a sign saying the practice has been moved, which the
angels REALLY should have snagged because now he knows where to look
for Elise.
Richardson
realizes David isn't going to give up, so he confronts him about
giving up on Elise. They talk back and forth as we learn Richardson
doesn't know the exact reason they can't be together, just that the
plan says they can't. David warns him he is not going to give up,
which makes me wonder why they don't just do an adjustment on him
like they did Charlie. I know earlier
they said the Chairman is the only person who can authorize an
adjustment, so why doesn't he? Since keeping them apart is apparently
SO important to his plan, why not just do a simple adjustment on
David to make him not like Elise anymore?
David manages to
make it to Elise despite Richardson's best attempts to stop him.
Richardson is called to see Mr. Donaldson, who is higher up the chain
than he is. Donaldson reveals David and Elise WERE meant to be
together their entire lives, but the plan changed in 2005 and she was
supposed to now be with a man named Adrian. Remnants from the old
plan keep pushing the two together, which is why they think they're
supposed to be with each other even though they really aren't.
Hmm, well that
does explain my biggest problem with the entire film but does that
feel really weak to anybody else? I suppose it's better than the
non-explanation most films would have given us besides “they're
both hot, clearly they're in love!”, but I don't know... not
feeling it at all. Donaldson says
they're bringing in Mr. Thompson to deal with the case, who
apparently is a super bad ass angel that'll easily solve the problem
and force them back on the plan again. It's worth noting there's a
cute little pun going on here with the character names, Tom
(Thompson), Dick (Richardson), and Harry (uh, Harry. Why isn't he
named Harrison like he should be?) that I didn't catch until my
second viewing of this.
David and Elise
where they go to a club and bond over the magic of the Hollywood
Montage. They kiss again, which leads to them having sex at David's.
I'm upset at this movie for taking away my chance to rant about
“complete strangers having sex right away” due to the reveal we
just had. A
very stupid reveal, by the way. This gives me shades of “the Will
of the Force” from the Star Wars Prequels. They fall asleep
in each others arms, where the camera pans over to reveal Thompson,
played by the legendary Terence Stamp, is watching them.
Creeper much? He's
likely already counting the money he'll make off a Matt Damon/Emily
Blunt sex tape.
Elise is woken up
by her phone ringing, her ex Adrian calling her out of the blue. She
tells David they were engaged at one point, but called it off. David
asks why she didn't marry Adrian, and she replies because of him.
What she felt for him, even for a moment, she never wanted to settle
for less. David tells her he knows the feeling.
David does another
guest spot on the Daily Show, afterward a stagehand walks him through
a door that takes him back to the giant room from earlier in the
film. Thompson is there waiting, and David finally asks a question
I've been wondering ever since we learned what the Adjustment Bureau
is.
“What about free
will?”
Thompson gives a
brief history lesson of the human race and the Bureau's involvement
with them. Long story short, he tells David humans only have the
APPEARANCE of free will and not the actual thing. The film doesn't
even spend a MOMENT on this epic revelation as David goes back to
asking why he can't be with Elise.
Thompson answers
he was only meant to meet her in the bathroom, so he'd get inspired
to give the speech that'd ultimately lead to him become senator and
then president. He tells David he can change the world, but this
won't happen if he stays with Elise because she'll “rub off” on
him with her Manic Pixie Dream Girl hipster ways. But David doesn't
care, staying steadfast in his dedication to be with Elise. Although
it's not really his dedication at all, he's just brainwashed by the
leftovers from an old plan so none of this works for me. Again, a
simple adjustment on him and this entire problem is fixed!
Thompson allows
David to go to Elise's show, tagging along with him just to drop
another bombshell: if he stays with her it'll not only kill his dream
but it'll kill hers as well. She's to become one of the greatest
choreographers in the world, but if David stays in her life she'll
end up teaching dance to six year olds.
He leaves on this
note, but pauses to make one of the dancers drop Elise and hurt her
leg. David takes her to a hospital for x-rays, sitting in the waiting
room where Thompson shows up to taunt him. David finally has enough
and punches him, which exactly is what the angel wanted. He tells
David he always does this, Heaven gives him great chances and he
squanders them with impulse. As per his character he leaves with
another stinger: Elise's ankle is only sprained but if David stays
with her it'll get worse. The angels are going to keep torturing her
until she's physically broken just so David will become president of
the United States... I'm not sure who the real loser of that plan is.
This threat is
finally enough to hit home with David, as he leaves her at the
hospital alone. We skip to eleven months later, as David is
proceeding with his senator campaign at full steam. Charlie shows him
a newspaper announcement that Elise is getting married to Adrian
tomorrow, which upsets him so much he's all “Fuck it!” and
decides to get her back. The
Adjustment Bureau: because
what does God know anyway?
He meets with
Harry, who tells him Thompson was lying and the REAL reason David and
Elise can't be together is because Elise is enough for him, she fills
the void in his life that he tries to fill with politics. David asks
for his help in getting her back, the angel agreeing because he's
been motivated by the guilt of killing David's father and brother.
Harry teaches
David how to use the doors to teleport around the city, making sure
to tell him to NEVER turn the doorknob counterclockwise because
that's ONLY for angels. Yeah, good job there Harry. Tell David not to
do something and expect him not to do it, because his track record in
this movie for listening to Heaven has been STELLAR thus far.
He gives David his
hat, as that's how angels are able to turn the doors into teleport
portals. With ten minutes to the wedding, which is at the courthouse,
David takes off running set to Adam Freeland's AWESOME remix of Sarah
Vaughan's Fever. This movie does have some great music, that's for
sure. Thompson is altered almost immediately, as we get a highly
inventive and well done chase scene.
David makes it to
the courthouse, where he finds Elise in the woman's bathroom in a
nice inversion of how this whole mess started. Elise is rightfully
pissed off at him for abandoning her, so he does his best to explain
what's going on. Thompson arrives
with his riot gear agents in tow, now having the authority to do a
reset on David. God is okay with turning David, apparently the most
important person in the world, into a vegetable but won't do an
adjustment on him?
David takes Elise
with him for another chase scene through doors, and if I were a more
cynical zombie I'd say this scene exists only so we can watch Emily
Blunt's breasts bounce in the most cleavage revealing dress possible. They end up
arriving on Liberty Island, where David explains some more and gives
her the choice of going through the next door with him or not. She
agrees to go with him as David turns the doorknob COUNTERCLOCKWISE
and they find themselves in the Adjustment Bureau.
They run to the
roof of the building with Thompson hot on their heels as Harry is
called to the Chairman's office. Damn, and you thought getting called
to principal's office was bad imagine getting called to GOD'S
office? Angels surround them and it looks like our couple
is done for, so they profess their love for each other and kiss.
This causes all
the angels to... vanish? Um, okay? Is watching humans
kiss their true weakness? No I guess not, because
Thompson is still there but before he can do anything Harry appears
and hands him a message from the Chairman. This causes Thompson to
leave and that's our climax. Harry tells the couple when they went
through the door at Liberty Island it shows they were willing to risk
everything for each other, so the Chairman was inspired by this to
rewrite the entire plan. The angel holds up his book, as we see their
paths are together but the grid up ahead of them is now blank. Harry
narrates us out on a shot of David and Elise walking down the street
hand in hand.
“Most people
live life on the path we set for them, too afraid to explore any
other. But once in awhile people like you come along who knock down
all the obstacles we put in your way. People who realize free will is
a gift you'll never know how to use until you fight for it. I think
that's the chairman's real plan, the maybe one day we won't write the
plan, you will.”
Cue the credits.
I enjoyed this
film far more than I ever could have guessed. It was extremely well
acted, everyone was on their A-Game here. That is even more
impressive when you consider this was the first movie ever directed
by George Nolfi, who up to this point in his career was only a
screenwriter responsible for the
Bourne Ultimatum and... ugh, Ocean's
Twelve.
The story flowed
great, never got dull, and kept me vested the entire time. THAT is a
rarity in most modern movies, so major points there. BUT, and there's
always a but, the story is also the movie's biggest problem. It
ultimately amounts to a “true love conquers all tale”, which is
about the most generic cop out a movie can take. It pretty much
totally ignores its own premise by the end which is frustrating, as
they set up the free will vs. predetermination concept early on and
then... just kind of push it to the side.
Free will
OBVIOUSLY exists in this universe or we wouldn't have the Adjustment
Bureau. Charlie had free will and was going to override David's goal
of investing in solar panels, which was contrary to God's plan. The
Adjustment Bureau had to intervene and change his mind, overriding
his free will.
However, when
David meets Thompson we learn we only have the appearance of free
will and that we can't outrun our own fate. Sure, we get to make our
own decisions about how brand of toothpaste to buy but anything of
significance is taken out of our hands. And when we REALLY screw up
like the Dark Ages or World Wars, Heaven steps in and fixes
everything.
This not being
contradicting enough, none of this seems to matter at the end because
God just changes his mind and rewrites everything because love
conquers all in a LITERAL deus ex machina ending. Pretty all over the
place there. I know the film at heart is a love story, but when they
put all that other stuff on the table it's hard to focus on the main
course. Too many weighty questions are raised that never get
addressed, especially if you're a nitpicky bastard like myself.
Still though, I
can easily give this a recommendation to pretty much anyone. Come for
the great acting and pacing, just don't expect anything too deep like
the movie wants you to think it is. Stay tuned for the second half of
my first “Dueling Movies” feature, as I'll be reviewing Source
Code next!
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