{"id":6302,"date":"2011-03-03T02:22:23","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T06:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.regrettablesincerity.com\/?p=6302"},"modified":"2012-07-20T14:06:08","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T18:06:08","slug":"the-adjustment-bureauunknownthe-eagle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/?p=6302","title":{"rendered":"The Adjustment Bureau\/Unknown\/The Eagle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In 2004, there was a surprisingly competent thriller released to theaters. Unfortunately it had a title that was not all that memorable, The Forgotten<\/em>, and it was amidst a glut of \u201cmy child is missing\u201d films, one of which also<\/em> starred Julianne Moore, Freedomland<\/em>. It had a premise that sounded familiar, Moore remembers her child, but no one else does; including her husband, suggesting that she might be crazy. Now it would be easy to fall into the trap of having it be some big conspiracy involving kidnapping and forcing rich white parents to fork over a hefty ransom before a routine action climax. But The Forgotten<\/em> actually toys with a supernatural theme, and its explanation that aliens studying humans are in fact pulling all the strings, suggests that the movie is going to go in a different direction. That is, of course, until the last 20 minutes or so, as the layers are revealed and those trying to explain things to Moore and us, are literally pulled into the air mid-sentence into the sky, never to return. The effect is at first surprising, but, like the exploding alien heads in Mars Attacks<\/em>, has the exact opposite intended effect (in Mars Attacks, <\/em>it eventually became boring), and the audience can\u2019t help but burst out laughing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One major part of the problem is that no ending has been properly worked out, neither the one in the theatrical version nor the alternate one on the DVD do anything but make concessions to audience expectations by the time they wrap up. This is an issue with a lot of The Forgotten <\/em>screenwriter Gerald Di Pego\u2019s scripts, such as Phenomenon<\/em>, where the extraordinary circumstances of John Travolta\u2019s newfound intelligence have a mundane explanation (a brain tumor) as opposed to sticking with the fantastical which is what had been working for the first two acts of the film. I\u2019d assume the same will be true of his script for Little Murder<\/em>, which deals with ghosts helping to solve murders, and is set to be released later in the year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>George Nolfi\u2019s The Adjustment Bureau<\/em> plays like someone took one of Di Pego\u2019s scripts and tried to improve all the lazy loose ends. It heavily resembles The Forgotten <\/em>as <\/em>it\u2019s also about normally unseen forces who control our choices and influence our actions in the name of a grand \u201cplan.\u201d Since The Adjustment Bureau<\/em> is based on a Phillip K. Dick story (the source for Blade Runner, Total Recall, Imposter, Minority Report, <\/em>etc.), it also gives us the generic everyman caught up in a sci-fi situation, who can beat the odds only through sheer determination in his love for a woman. The other unfortunate similarity in Dick adaptations is that they all devolve into routine treadmill thrillers<\/span><\/a>, with the third act of each film consumed with one repetitive chase after another. That\u2019s often because Dick has supplied the meat of the story, which for some reason wasn\u2019t enough for a two hour film, and the only way filmmakers have found to resolve the films was to repeat themselves (Imposter<\/em> properly started as a short film, but then an hour of chases was added before release) before going with ends that all look like they simply ran out of film on the set and decided that this was as good a place as any to quit shooting.<\/p>\n

There are elements of The Adjustment Bureau <\/em>that diverge from the normal Dick template, such as the fact that the lead character, played by Matt Damon, may be an everyman, but that simplicity is exactly what has made him an electable politician. And unlike, Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Gary Sinise, and other heroes of Dick adaptations, Damon has the physique of an everyman; when he runs, and there\u2019s a lot of running, it appears he might have at least two extra buttcheeks following him in the HOV lane.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nolfi was able to provide other visual distinctions, apart from Damon\u2019s additional appendages, but it\u2019s funny how much it resembles The Forgotten<\/em>\u2019s warehouse setting, as Damon is confronted by uptight men with hats and trench coats who tell him that it\u2019s not part of the plan from \u201cThe Chairman\u201d (God, not Frank Sinatra) for him to stay with Emily Blunt, a \u201cwacky\u201d woman he met in the bathroom before he gave a political concession speech. Because of an error, possibly deliberate, one of the agents was supposed to spill coffee on Damon*, but napped through it, Damon caught The Adjusters freezing time, and with their fanciful tools and powers, manipulating some of his friends into making better business decisions, and he\u2019s threatened with having his mind erased if he tells anyone (Julianne Moore is threatened with memory erasure in The Forgotten<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now the fact that Damon ran into Blunt\u2019s manic pixie dream girl<\/span><\/a> (emotional, impulsive, into the arts, doesn\u2018t mince words, responds to questions like \u201cwho dared you to crash a wedding?\u201d with \u201cMe.\u201d) more than once in New York City has an explanation, because of the aftereffects of his discovery of the agents, as opposed to how it would play in a normal movie, as an annoying contrivance. It doesn\u2019t excuse The Adjustment Bureau\u2019<\/em>s lazy, literal Deus Ex Machina conclusion, which throws away any good will that was built up as the movie hinted at working its way through Dick\u2019s normal themes of government and corporate control, and how controlling our impulses is how the world will eventually collapse into a 1984<\/em>-style police state.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s a shame because, for a sci-fi premise, The Adjustment Bureau <\/em>has a good one (that was clearly borrowed for Dark City<\/em><\/span><\/a>), and by beginning the film as a rah-rah rags-to-riches political story of Damon\u2019s rise to power, it makes us believe that the movie could go absolutely anywhere, especially once it introduces God into the equation. When the agent helping Damon (played by Anthony Mackie, other agents like Terence Stamp and John Slattery have purely expositional roles) explains that they can\u2019t be followed while on water as it disrupts the signal, not only is that an interesting wrinkle about how much power God might have over the humans of this particular world, it hints at how the water might be used later**, but just becomes a conduit for the very elaborate final chases, which are less exciting and more exhausting. It suggests that the various Chairmen who contributed to this particular screenplay ought to have consulted a more imaginative higher power.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The same lack of creativity plagues Jaume Collet-Serra\u2019s Unknown<\/em>, which plays like The Adjustment Bureau <\/em>in reverse, as instead of a man discovering that he has had very little input into the choices he\u2019s made, Unknown <\/em>has the man, Liam Neeson, realize how much more complicit he is with his surroundings, perhaps not the innocent he believes himself to be.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Playing like David Fincher\u2019s The Game<\/em> without Fincher\u2019s trademark macabre humor, Unknown<\/em> floats along pleasantly as it wraps itself in the mystery that Neeson, while attending a biotechnology conference in Berlin, is involved in a car accident and when he comes out of his coma, nobody, not even his wife (January Jones) remembers who he is. Obviously modeled on Taken<\/em><\/span><\/a>, Neeson\u2019s 2008 action-thriller produced by Luc Besson<\/span><\/a>, Unknown<\/em> is actually a lot closer to Besson\u2019s From Paris With Love<\/span><\/a>, <\/em>with a vaguely European star (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) engaging in elaborate car chases which don\u2019t suit him, avoiding the very lax\/incompetent European police\/security while he breaks down the doors of whatever lower-level tenement he can, harassing illegal immigrants so he can find out details of an international conspiracy and stop the murder of an important, but only faintly represented in the film, world leader. And, with the American equivalent of Besson, Joel Silver<\/span><\/a>, pushing Unknown <\/em>forward humorlessly and in an unnecessarily complicated fashion (the conclusion features at least 37 twists too many), that\u2019s what we get.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Serra had previously worked with Silver on Orphan<\/em>, which had the same overlit, grainy white and blue color scheme and otherworldly feel as Unknown<\/em>, and was also unconscionably long for what should have been a quick, snappy thriller. Serra is not a steady hand with genre material, so like the horror of Orphan<\/em>, the action in Unknown<\/em> is third-class, like he didn\u2019t have his heart in the requirements of those particular clich\u00e9s. But Serra is <\/em>good with building suspense, and Unknown<\/em>\u2019s first act with Neeson\u2019s confusion and meeting his unnerving doppelganger (Aidan Quinn***, who has finally stopped looking 35 years old, which he did even when he was 18), and even most of the second act is quite effective, before it devolves into a completely different movie in the last section (not bad, necessarily, but just really tonally off). Serra contributes some interesting camerawork, such as when Neeson looks into a mirror and appears to us to be a robotic version of himself (aided by Jones\u2019 deliberately stiff performance). As the Hitchcock-ian \u201cWrong Man\u201d elements pile up, Unknown <\/em>should be getting better, but gets lost in subplots about elderly private investigators and whether or not someone, who was already in disguise<\/em>, would worry about being caught on a hotel camera. And as silly as Unknown <\/em>becomes, it never reaches the heights where it might have. Neeson can play funny, and none of his recent renaissance of appearing in 6-12 movies a year will ever erase the delightful memory of his dancing with a funnel on his head, trying to amuse pigeons, while he basks in his own self-pity, in Darkman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kevin Macdonald has a lot of the same obstacles as Serra, and he struggles just as mightily with The Eagle<\/em>. Macdonald, obviously instructed to get his 5 trailer money shots of medieval action (such as an effective scene where our heroes use their shields as an almost battering ram, as they attack their foes very low to the ground), leaves out what might have made those individual moments entertaining through incoherent quick cutting, barren sets, and an overall disinterest in making large scale battles palatable (just one wide shot of a supposedly enormous fire might have given you the scale of the damage and saved him), rendering the frenetic and muddled first 20 minutes of The Eagle <\/em>pretty much unwatchable.<\/p>\n

Macdonald finds his bearings later on, after dispatching with characters like an \u201cintimidating\u201d warrior, outfitted like Calvin Klein meets Jesus, a barrel-chested fellow with what looks like a lot of conditioner in his hair, and developing The Eagle <\/em>into a very odd and inconsistent Buddy-Cop movie. Yes we\u2019re in the gray skies, mud and religious fervor period of Roman dominated history, but that doesn\u2019t stop Macdonald from turning The Eagle <\/em>into an almost self-mocking parody of mediocre Gladiator <\/em>rip-offs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>His hero, played by Channing Tatum (who performs like Josh Hartnett if he couldn\u2018t stop gritting his teeth with provincial disgust), has not been written as a smart fellow, and the screenplay makes no judgments on this matter (\u201cdon\u2018t piss on my father\u2018s name!\u201d You know, instead of \u201cYou don\u2018t piss on hospitality<\/span><\/a>!\u201d). He\u2019s arrogant, but with nothing to back it up, and after he decides to go searching for the titular golden figure that his father lost many years ago, taking with him only a British slave (Jamie Bell) and his sense of entitlement. Whether this is because Tatum had to recover from some CGI-aided horsery which should have killed him and he\u2019s still concussed (he goes through the 4 concussion syndrome Jude Law describes in Repo Men) <\/em>is unclear. All we know is, the journey through the land of \u201csavages\u201d amongst the \u201cmud people\u201d should be about how Tatum discovers how sometimes symbols are just symbols and recovering the eagle is not really the point****, but the movie plods along piling on inadvertent messages supporting imperialism and how \u201csavages will be <\/em>savages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m sure the bickering and Tatum and Bell is just supposed to be a simple counterpoint to the action, but it just reinforces the homoeroticism and how standard buddy-cop movies like 48 Hrs<\/em>. would stop the story in its tracks just so the characters could have another fistfight. From what we see, Tatum\u2019s character is stubborn and foolish, and should be killed pretty quickly, and would be, were he not the main character. His loyalty to his clan seems based on Jerry Seinfeld\u2019s bit about how sports is just about \u201crooting for clothing,\u201d and if his enemies regardless of their ideology, were on a different team, wearing a different uniform, he wouldn\u2019t be fighting them. Surely Seinfeld would find the humor in such a mediocre movie like The Eagle<\/em> still being so goofy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

* They\u2019re like The Borrowers<\/em>, only instead of moving your personal items, they interject small annoyances into your life.<\/p>\n

** On top of the cleansing metaphor and the thought that the water issue is why Jesus walked on<\/em> water, instead of underneath it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>*** What\u2019s so great about the casting of Quinn is that he\u2019s like Neeson\u2019s shorter, less charming, less attractive, bitter stand-in. It\u2019s like a coup for all those neglected stand-ins who we only see from behind in wigs and oversized clothing.<\/p>\n

**** There\u2019s a vague sense of Valhalla Rising<\/span><\/a> <\/em>throughout The Eagle<\/em>, but there\u2019s not one character nearly that introspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2004, there was a surprisingly competent thriller released to theaters. Unfortunately it had a title that was not all that memorable, The Forgotten, and it was amidst a glut of \u201cmy child is missing\u201d films, one of which also starred Julianne Moore, Freedomland. It had a premise that sounded familiar, Moore remembers her child, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,14],"tags":[690,6223,5188,7583,402,7585,247,3572,600,7594,7595,130,2912,153,7584,2343,957,1862,640,1419,6469,7582,946,7578,7593,900,4536,7576,7589,437,1872,255,7581,893,7574,7577,555,4428,7592,335,6170,257,1828,5406,7572,131,7580,126,7591,7590,1344,6216,4600,1121,6199,140,7588,895,5189,6377,4894,7586,7575,7573,7579,754,3366,1184,2967,1055,7024,1558,7587],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regrettablesincerity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}