The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

[Dennis M. Scott]

Surprisingly in a similar vein as The Grace Card, this movie raises issues many Naznetters will find worth discussing. Determinism - more than predestination, IMO, but definitely free will. It would be a fun movie for Calvinists and Arminians to discuss, because both sides are taken pretty lightly. In the end, just like we all wanted to see, Love wins. Whether or not it's the kind of Love we might have hoped, would be something the viewer would have to decide.

I can't tell whether or not the writer/director is serious, or spoofing us. Matt Damon stars, and I'm not accustomed to that in a meaningful faith film. This movie has had the financial advertising budget the Grace Card did not.

[Mike Schutz]

So, what do you make of the boom mic showing up in scenes throughout the first half of the movie - symbolism, or bad video editing?

[Ryan Scott]

Pretty much everything these days is shot digitally, Mike. I didn't see the movie yet, but I can tell you it's not hard to edit something like that out of digital prints.

[Mike Schutz]

It was very distracting. The crowd in the theater is laughing about it during serious scenes. If it was intentional, it failed because it took away from the flow of the film.

[Valisha Trammell Hall]

I feel like an idiot...I didn't notice the boom mic.

[Mike Schutz]

Valisha - you could not have missed it. It was in almost every scene for the first half of the movie. Since I haven't read about it anywhere, I wonder if the theater was shipped this copy by mistake.

[Kazimiera Fraley]

Mike and I did not notice it either. Was it THAT obvious?

[Jon Twitchell]

I was looking for Mike's mic... and didn't see it.

Assuming that he's not talking about the boom mics that were props during the opening scenes as we followed the congressman on the campaign trail.

[Glenda Harvey]

I saw the trailer on this movie and read a critique on it. I noticed the similarity with the idea of predestination and wondered if it might make a good discussion opener on the differences between free will and predestination.

[Ryan Scott]

Sometimes a theater will have a larger screen than the editor intended and you'll get the occasional boom mic that was supposed to be off screen. That happened to me when I watched "13 Days" in Wolly Theater. Upon further review, the boom mics I saw were not actually supposed to be visible.

[Dennis M. Scott]

I saw the trailer on this movie and read a critique on it. I noticed the similarity with the idea of predestination and wondered if it might make a good discussion opener on the differences between free will and predestination.

Your suggestion for a discussion starter is good. A video clip could also be used in a sermon on the same subject. Both suggestions are among those made by the producers. It would be an even better intro to a message about the fickleness of theologians. "The reason this has happened is that you were programed for it to happen back when it was the plan. We changed the plan however, and now it can't be part of the plan. IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!" Restated, it would be: "You think you have free will, but the choice you have made is really because you were determined to make that choice before and that previous determination has made you make the choice you have, even though something else has now been predestined.

Like a silly dream that goes on from one crazy scene to another - with just fragments of reality mixed in emotional but totally impossible vignettes, one leaves the theatre saying, "Well, there were parts of that seemed pretty close to chapters of my own life, and in the end, things turned out allright, so I guess it was a good movie."

Except for Adrian. I guess from Adrian's perspective, it was just another really stupid dream . . , er, movie.

[Mike Schutz]

Here is an explanation of the visible boom mic, as Ryan has suggested.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/ent...nt-bureau.html

[Thomas Oord]

Friends,

I thought you might enjoy my blog review on The Adjustment Bureau and open theology...

http://thomasjayoord.com/index.php/b...reau_theology/

For what it's worth,

Tom

[Rich Schmidt]

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I've only skimmed the comments here for fear of catching a spoiler.

But I just read the short story it's said to be based on: Philip K. Dick's "The Adjustment Team." In the story, the guy behind it all is a God-like character. He's never named as such, but it's clear that's who he's supposed to be. I'm guessing that aspect doesn't make it into the movie.

And now, I'm going to try to avoid this thread until after I've seen the movie on DVD.

[Jon Twitchell]

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I've only skimmed the comments here for fear of catching a spoiler.

But I just read the short story it's said to be based on: Philip K. Dick's "The Adjustment Team." In the story, the guy behind it all is a God-like character. He's never named as such, but it's clear that's who he's supposed to be. I'm guessing that aspect doesn't make it into the movie.

And now, I'm going to try to avoid this thread until after I've seen the movie on DVD.

You won't read this until after you've seen the movie, I suppose...

But I thought it was pretty clear that the Chairman was supposed to be God or god-like. And I hadn't read the book.

[David Troxler]

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I've only skimmed the comments here for fear of catching a spoiler.

But I just read the short story it's said to be based on: Philip K. Dick's "The Adjustment Team." In the story, the guy behind it all is a God-like character. He's never named as such, but it's clear that's who he's supposed to be. I'm guessing that aspect doesn't make it into the movie.

And now, I'm going to try to avoid this thread until after I've seen the movie on DVD.

In his blog today, Chuck Colson calls this film, "John Calvin caught in the Matrix." Here's the link, in which he also references that the movie is based on that short story by Dick.

http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/16716

[Ryan Scott]

Watched it tonight. I really had a hard time getting into a world that was so deterministic. It just sat wrong with me. Matt Damon is fantastic and Emily Blunt is incredibly underrated; she's a very talented actress. There is a lot here to talk about.

I like the assertion, near the end, that the only people who really have free will are those who fight for it. It does seem that the forces of this world push us into specific molds - we have to be consciously relentless to escape them.

That's gospel to me.

[Thomas Oord]

I showed this movie to about 70 of our ministry majors at a retreat a couple weeks ago. It inspired some great discussions. I'll use it again as a discussion starter about freedom, God's will, and whether the future is truly open.

Tom