Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:37 am by OWC
I went to see this, attracted by the name "Philip K. Dick", and the references to Inception in the promo material, and was expecting it to be far more of a mindfuck than it turned out to be. To be fair, there are some very good "what is real?" moments early in the film, and the concept behind "The plan" (God, fate, destiny, freewill, personal desire vs. good of mankind etc) is an interesting one, but it soon turns into a romance rather than the expected mental-warping, although I have to admit I haven't read the source material, so didn't know exactly what was coming. The two leads are very well-matched, though, and there is a genuine chemistry between them, so you do find yourself wishing for the against-all-odds (with "race against time" pursuit) happy ending, and also wondering if Hollywood would dare to send punters home unhappy just this once. It did remind me of the Nicholas Cage film "City of Angels" in places (minus the nausea), with the men of the bureau creeping dangerously close to being "angels", so I wasn't entirely sure how it would turn out. As a sci-fi thriller, it leaves a lot to be desired, but as a romance with a bit of brain-activity, it's a fun and cheerful way to give your eyes/ears something to do whilst you eat popcorn and wonder how you're going to remove the chewing gum from your arse. If I had a girlfriend, this is the kind of film I'd probably go and see with her, but alas, I am an internet dwelling hopelessly-romantic singleton.
The next film I had been planning to see is Source Code, but that also seems to have a "going against the boss's wishes/messing up the plan because you've fallen in love with a girl you shouldn't have got involved with" theme, so I might wait for a while until the Adjustment Bureau isn't quite so fresh in my mind.