There was a single scene in The Adjustment Bureau that gave a sense of what the movie could have been.
It occurs early on when David Norris (Matt Damon) visits his true love Elise Sellas' (Emily Blunt) dance studio for the first time. At this point, David Norris has already met the Adjustment Bureau and somewhat understands it, its remarkable power, and that it is committed to keeping him from Elise. That “God” himself wants to prevent David from getting with Elise. That he is in danger of being lobotomized if he continues on his quest. Yet he won't give up.
In this one scene, David non-creepily watches Elise from behind a closed door while the “angels” plead with him to just let it go. It’s a small scene but one in which everything works.
We (and David Norris) begin to get a sense of just how powerless these individual "angels" (John Slattery and, I think, Anthony Mackie) actually are. Clumsy, ineffectual, in over their head- they are nothing but insignificant bureaucrats in an omnipresent entity. Despite their organization controlling our universe, they are as worthless as the humans they try to dominate.
The way David converses with them in this scene shows a man accepting that while he can never beat the game, he can fuck with the players. There's an implicit, almost sad connection between the two parties over their mutual impotence that leads to David Norris thumbing his nose at these authority figures rather than outwardly rebelling against them. In that singular moment, the film had the makings of a true Philip K. Dick film. Unfortunately, nothing else in the film had that weight (although the performances, particularly of the two leads, were good).
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