Theology in Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Disclaimer: This is a theology review of "The Adjustment Bureau" (TAB), starring Matt Damon & Emily Blunt. So I might give away parts of the movie if you haven't seen it, although I'm going to try not to.

There hasn't been a movie to fill me with thoughts of theology the way TAB did, probably since "The Matrix." The movie plot is about determinism vs free will, maybe the longest running, mostly-un-ultimately-decided debate within the Church throughout our history. It is rife with theological comment.

Like "The Matrix", there is some good theology there. The portrayal of the juxtaposition of making choices contrary to the plan of the Chairman is excellent, and as Greg Boyd says, it might be the most intelligent Hollywood version of that debate ever (which may not be saying much, but still). Greg has an awesome review of the movie, including 5 great points on the free will/determinism debate, which you can read here.
But, also like "The Matrix", while some of the theology is good, ultimately it becomes the skin of the truth around a lie. The original lie, in fact.

When my friends and family asked me after what I thought of the movie, I responded something like "great movie, but maybe the most evil theology I've ever seen in a movie."

Yep, I see it as evil, and here's why: it mirrors the lie told by the serpent in the garden. If you believe the plan revealed by the One to be somehow wrong, then you should act in your own self interest, and if you do it with enough gumption and sincerity and passion, then you can rewrite the plan. In other words, you can be like God.

The movie does leave you hanging about what the main characters' future was, although the implication seemed to me to be that they lived "happily ever after". But perhaps like Adam and Eve it all went bad for them, when the Chairman gave them what they thought they wanted. But we really don't know.

So here's what I would say:

• An all-powerful God (the Chairman) and his plan for the world (the books the agents carried) do not have to be written in stone. An omnipotent being can allow for the free choices of humans. Or angels for that matter.
• Neither the humans nor the angels involved in this world know the outcome of the plan, and our parts we play in it are often tests, designed to grow us into the creatures we were created to be.
• Ultimately, the greatest exercise of our free will is to choose allegiance to the One who does rule the universe, and like him, to come serving and not to be served. It does not profit a man to gain the world and yet lose his soul. This movie says that if you go after the world with sincerity and passion, you will find it. With apologies to those who see the romanticism of his pursuit of the girl of his dreams as "all that," if we pursue our dreams with no regard of the One who made us, we will only find death at the end.

Great movie, definitely worth seeing multiple times, but watch out for the subtle untruths.

Hmm, The Happening doesn't really happen

Okay, I posted the other day about M. Night Shyamalan and how "I am Legend" reminded me of his movies. So today, with nothing to do and the family at the in-laws, I decided to go see "The Happening", Shyamalan's newest flick. Written, directed and produced by him. I was disappointed.

The plot just never got into rhythm. It was choppy and some things were totally left undealtwith or just thrown in without seeming to make sense to the overall plot. And it was if he said to his critics "Fine, you think I am addicted to the weird twist at the end? Well in this movie I will just make it obvious from the beginning." And it was.

Don't get me wrong, it had a little thriller in it. There were definitely times I was waiting for the scare, a feeling I enjoy. But nothing like "Sixth Sense" or "Signs". And he threw in more gore in this one, which is what gave it the "R" rating. As a side note, I cannot understand for the life of me how parents can take their kids to a movie like this. But today there was a 4 year old wandering the theater jumping every time something gory showed up on screen.

I have decided that for me, I know when Shyamalan lost it. It was the scene in "Signs" where he showed the alien at the end. It took the thrill away, and I haven't gotten it back fully in one of his films yet. I agree with something I read on Wikipedia--Shyamalan seemed to have done his best work when he focused on directing, and less when he's also the writer.

"Light up the darkness."

This week I finally watched "I am Legend" with Will Smith. Great movie. I didn't know it was based on a 1954 science fiction novel by Richard Matheson, or that other movies had already been made from that book. Which is amazing since I'm typically up on vampire-related genres. I've always been fascinated with vampires, and some of you know that my only recurring nightmare involves fighting vampires a la Blade (not Buffy). See an article about the history of the book and movies here.

***Movie Synopsis--if you haven't seen it and plan to, stop reading***

This 2007 version is set in 2012. A cure for cancer was created in 2009 by manipulating a virus and injecting into humans. Unfortunately, it apparently mutates and wipes out 98% of the world's population. In the remaining 2%, most become zombie/vampires, only coming out at night and feeding on blood. But a few, less than 1%, are immune to the effects.

Army doctor Robert Neville is the last human living in New York City. But rather than leave, he spends his days trying to find a cure, trying to adapt his own immune blood into a serum that will restore the vampires to humans. We learn through flashbacks about various events surrounding the cutting off of NYC from the rest of the world in 09, hoping to stem the virus outbreak. As a comment on the movie itself, it is a true thriller. Very little gore, lots of hair standing on end. Lots of waiting for the vampires to appear, then forgetting your waiting, then jumping when they do. That alone is worth the watch.

But the movie also reminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's films, which I really like. There is a string of Providence that winds through the movie. American Christians have almost forgotten about Providence. We have worked so hard to understand God as our friend (not a bad thing) that we forget about God as the Writer of a cosmic story. Plus we're pretty big into free will, and unless we're calvinistic in our theology, we don't like the idea of God somehow manipulating our lives in this story. Unless of course it keeps us healthy and wealthy, but that's another post.

Through the movie you see these little "signs" that you don't know are signs until the end of the movie. And isn't that just the way life is? Like Jacob, we "wake up" and say "God was here and I flat out missed it." These signs are given to light our way in a dark world and help us see that while all kinds of things happen that seem evil and chaotic and totally out of control the threads of Providence are weaving their way to the conclusion of the story that the Writer has in mind. His dreams will come true, his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we begin to see these signs, we believe. We become participants in the story's outcome, characters used by the Writer to bring about the conclusion.

We begin to light up the darkness.

Anybody want a peanut?

How cool is this? I took the "What is your 80s movie?" on Facebook and-----shocker-----

I was "The Princess Bride." My 2nd favorite movie of all time after Lord of the Rings.

Hallo. You killt my father. Prepare to die.

Are you more tired of Christmas or Christians complaining about Christmas?

But this is hilarious!




Would you go see this movie?

Here's a great review of The Golden Compass

I was wary from the time I got the email from my mom about The Golden Compass. I have snopes.com and truthorfiction.com on my quick link list for reviewing hoaxes, especially ones that followers of Jesus fall for. (Madeleine Murray O'Hare is dead and is not trying to get "Touched by an Angel", "Highway to Heaven" or "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" off TV...)

But there seems to be some truth to the reaction to The Golden Compass. And CT recently had a great review here, offering a lot of balance, something too often lacking in believers.

300 Spartans and Leonidas

I finally watched "300" last week. I absolutely love the story of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans who resist the Persians under Xerxes, and have used that story a bunch of times in teaching. So, I intially hated the previews I saw about "300". I mean, who really believes that Spartan soldiers wore only loin cloths, and all had 6-pack abs and Fabio hair?

But then a few months ago I heard on NPR an interview with the director talking about how his goal was to have a movie that visually showed the legendary telling of tales found in an oral society. Now I get it. It's like a campfire story. So Xerxes is 9 feet tall, the Persian army has Orcs from Lord of the Rings, and Leonidas wears only a leather jock strap.

But in a sense I respect it more now. We've lost the art of telling good stories in our culture because of the impact of television and movies. Our love affair with modernity has left us slightly (or sometimes not so slightly) jaded, and very few things take our breath away anymore. We've seen too much, experienced too much, for our souls to still be amazed. And while not necessarily historically accurate, "300" is definitely amazing.

Are We the Planet of Apes???

This made me laugh!

http://www.wittenburgblog.com/2007/06/intelligent-design-live-earth-and.html

Movie Review: Meet the Robinsons

"Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

Walt Disney

We took the family to see "Meet the Robinsons" on Saturday, and although the wife would say I have always said this about new movies, this is the best Disney computer-animated movie yet. Instead of the normal family-friendly kid fare these days, with often contrasting themes like "be yourself" or "everyone needs a family", the theme for this movie is focused on letting the past go and just keep moving forward. It's got a neat plot that has twists for both kids and adults, and lots to laugh at. There is some scariness for younger kids at the end as the bad guy gets the upper hand for awhile (my 6 year old didn't want to watch that part), so keep that in mind. But altogether a great flick!