407. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Terence Stamp

Director: George Nolfi

Running Time: 106 mins

The Adjustment Bureau is an American film about a politician who discovers that his life and his fate is being controlled by mysterious forces, forces that are trying to keep him and the love of his life apart no matter what.

This idea was really cool. The original creator of this extremely abstract concept is surely a genius, because the ways in which the story went through all different levels and intricate plot lines was very interesting to watch.

The story was really intriguing to me, because it brought about this bizarre concept, and presented it in a very literal way, with the idea that actual ‘agents’ are controlling fate by way of an administration, which made it a lot less confusing and therefore much more fun to jump into as quickly as possible.

Also, the story is extremely fast-paced. Discounting some relationship-establishing scenes between Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, everything in this movie is rapid-fire, and very exciting to watch, culminating in an enthralling chase through New York City, reminiscent of The Final Cut.

Despite the intelligence and excitement of the story, I have to say that the romance element was overplayed quite a bit too much. In my opinion, a lot of exciting potential was lost in this story because there was just too much focus on the effects that everything would have on the couple’s relationship.

Overall, I’ll give this a 7.4 then, because it had an interesting, exciting story (if not with a few plot holes), but there was often too much romance to fit in with the film.