One of the benefits of being back at my parents' house is that they like to rent DVDs most weekends. That means that all the films I've seen pass by the cinema and thought "I really ought to see that" are now re-emerging and I'm working through them.
Did I know how many there were? No. Not until I was wandering the aisles of Blockbusters with my dad and started picking up case after case, telling him what each of them was about, pointing at others, assessing whether they've been rumoured to be critically good or not.
The first film rented was The Adjustment Bureau. It stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, but I think the person who steals the scenes they're in is from the supporting cast- one Anthony Mackie as Harry Mitchell, a member of the bureau who is disillusioned with their work and helps Damon's character, politician David Norris. It's no small feat to be the stand-out actor in this film, however- both Damon and Blunt offer solid and nuanced performances, Damon in particular, and the supporting cast from which Mackie rises includes the cornerstone actors Terence Stamp and John Slattery as Mitchell's seniors within the bureau. Despite that, he still stands head and shoulders above his colleagues.
It is worth noting that, in watching this with my parents, the concept behind the film is exceptional, brilliantly mind bending and yet easy to follow, as evidenced by the fact that my mum didn't stop once to ask what was going on. As yardsticks of overcomplicated narratives go, Mum is top-notch. If an audience won't get it, mum says so. However, having followed the premise that every single person has a Plan written for them to control their Fate along with the less strong Chance and Free Will (used for minor decisions, such as "your toothpaste, or what beverage to have with lunch"), Mum then stated the film was "creepy and mades you feel funny". In that the ideas behidn the film made her question if such a thing could happen with that sort of thing. Don't worry, it's not going to have that affect on you, it's just a hypersensitivity she alone possesses- me and my dad were fine. It's a cracking premise, though, and as I've said, the performances are more than worthy of carrying it.
Which is why, as is so often the case now, the resolution and the third act really just disappoints. It had so much that went before it to run with and, in a neat and hastily resolved quarter of an hour (if that) threw away any chance of being exceptional and daring with it. Which is ironic, as Mitchell states that the humans who the bureau have diverted away from greatness could have been so much more, were it not for the unquestioning execution of the Plan for each of them. Had the script not been so blindly followed and a more daring, deviating conclusion been thought up it would have been an exceptional film, deserving of the quote the DVD cover and TV adverts are repeating ad nauseum. "Bourne meets Inception" it wasn't, but could have been.
No comments:
Post a Comment