This month Mill Creek has released several double-feature Blu-rays sets featuring two Universal films featuring the same actor. This Blu-ray includes two films starring Matt Damon, The Adjustment Bureau (2011) and The Good Shepherd (2006):
The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
Eight years ago, at the age of 24, Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) was the youngest person to ever be elected to the House of Representatives, despite getting into a bar brawl the night of his election. Now he’s running for Senator of New York, and is way ahead in the polls, but a scandalous photo taken of him years earlier surfaces and tanks his campaign. As David prepares his concession speech, he has a meet-cute with the quirky Elise (Emily Blunt), and it’s love at first sight. However, she has to run away, and he never gets her name or number. A few days later, David is starting his new job, working for a venture capital firm run by his former campaign manager/best friend Charlie (Michael Kelly). As chance would have it, David happens to run into Elise again on the bus, and this time he makes sure to get her digits. However, when David arrives at work to tell Charlie the good news, he witnesses something strange. Everyone in the office appears to be frozen in time, and some men in strange protective suits are doing some sort of scan on his friend. David tries to run, but a man dressed in a proper suit and hat, Richardson (John Slattery), seems to anticipate his every move, and eventually he and his men capture David and knock him out.
When David wakes up, he finds himself strapped to a chair in an empty parking garage, surrounded by the men. Richardson informs David that their role is to make sure things in the world run according to “the plan”. When things veer off course, they make small adjustments by nudging things in a different direction. Harry Mitchell (Anthony Mackie) had been assigned to David’s case for a long time, and was supposed to have caused David to spill his coffee, which ultimately would have prevented both his meeting with Elise as well as him walking in on them adjusting Charlie. David is warned that if he tells anyone about their Adjustment Bureau or what he has seen, they will completely wipe his memory, leaving him looking like a crazy person to his family and friends. Richardson also burns Elise’s phone number, warning David that their relationship is not part of the plan, and that he should not pursue it any further. However, David doesn’t give up that easily, and for the next three years, he continues to search for Elise, until they once again meet by fate. Now David is determined to never let her go again, but Richardson and his men are at the ready, watching his every movie and using their powers to put literal roadblocks in his way. But in their attempts to stop David, the adjusters are also causing new ripple effects and reflection points, and must figure a way to prevent the relationship before the damage to the plan becomes irreversible. Who is in charge of the plan, and why do they want to keep David and Elise apart? Can love change fate?
I really enjoyed the film, which is based on the Philip K. Dick short story “Adjustment Team”. It is a sci-fi tale that also felt somewhat grounded in reality. The Adjustment Team look like regular individuals, just wearing suits and hats, and it is easy for them to blend in, especially in the streets of New York City. They just do small things to nudge events a certain way, such as moving coffee cups, causing people to trip, or taxis to not stop, so it is easy for their actions to go unnoticed. The filmmakers are able to make their presence believable, without resorting to massive CGI spectacles. Damon is perfectly cast as the young, charismatic Congressman with a bit of a wild past, and David’s first encounter with Elise is so delightful. Blunt and Damon have great on-screen chemistry, and it’s easy to see why David falls head-over-heels for Elise. Elise is also a dancer, and the film allows Blunt to show off her skills in this regard as well. The film is a nice combination of character drama, love story, and action film, though most of the action involves David running from the adjusters, or the adjusters manipulating objects and/or people and creating magical doors/portals to jump around the city in an attempt to stop David. Anthony Mackie is enjoyable as the angel-like adjuster who tries to assist David, while John Slattery and Terence Stamp are wonderful as the more evil ones bent on keeping things according to the plan.
Universal previously released The Adjustment Bureau on Blu-ray in 2011, and that disc contained a large assortment of bonus features—an audio commentary with the writer/director, 7 minutes of deleted scenes, nearly 50 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and a digital copy. Unfortunately none of that supplemental material has been carried over the this double-feature disc. However, the technical Blu-ray presentation of this new release is quite solid. The picture is clean and clear, providing a nice level of detail throughout. The film doesn’t really have any huge CGI spectacles, but the effects of the adjusters using their powers, or going through doors to jump around the city blend in seamlessly. The audio track provides clear dialogue, and captures the ambiance of the busy city streets nicely, as well as the echo of interior conference and ballrooms.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
In 1961, the U.S. makes its failed attempt to invade Cuba, known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and there is reason to believe that a spy had alerted the Russians to their plans. Senior CIA officer Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) finds an envelope containing some photographs and an audio reel on his doorstep that may help to reveal who leaked the information to the communists. So as he and his team start to meticulously dissect both the photos and the audio to determine who is in the photos and where they were taken.
The film flashes back to 1939 as a younger Edward attends Yale and is being tapped for the Skull and Bones society. The film then follows Wilson’s tumultuous life and career over the next two decades as he is tapped by the FBI’s Sam Murach (Alec Baldwin) to spy on his teacher (Michael Gambon), marries his classmate John’s (Gabriel Macht) younger sister, and is recruited by General William Sullivan (Robert De Niro) to head up the war effort at the American Trade Bureau in London, working with his new assistant Sergeant Ray Brocco (John Turturro), British officer Arch Cummings (Billy Crudup), and fellow Bonesmen Richard Hayes (Lee Pace). Edward is also eventually tapped to head up the Counter-Terrorism unit of a new government agency called the C.I.A., where his metal and loyalty to his country will be even further tested. All the while, Edward struggles to maintain his personal life, which usually takes a backseat to his career, often leaving his wife Margaret (Angelina Jolie) alone and unhappy for long periods of time, barely seeing a son (Eddie Redmayne) who is eager to follow in his father’s C.I.A. footsteps, thinking about his own father’s tragic death, and wondering about a lost love (Tammy Blanchard) from his past.
I don’t think The Good Shepherd is for everyone, clocking in at nearly 3 hours—this is more for folks who had no issues sitting through The Irishman or several Godfather films. It is more of a long exploration of a character’s life choices and how they play out, with the backdrop being the birth of the C.I.A. While the film has an amazing cast—which also includes William Hurt, Timothy Hutton, and Joe Pesci—and some great performances, I found it a little difficult and exhausting to follow at times. The film is constantly jumping around in time without really alerting the viewer as to when scenes take place. Not only does it jump back and forth between Edward’s younger days and his present with the Bay of Pigs investigation, it also jumps around even within his past, and it is those scenes that are sometimes difficult to place. The film also assumes the viewer has a somewhat detailed knowledge of this period of American history, sometimes short-handing events that it seems like the viewer is supposed to recognize. The movie does eventually build to a nice pay-off once it finally gets to the end, but it takes far too long to get there. This is also not the most pleasant and uplifting film, so to watch Edward’s life fall apart over three hours also gets a bit depressing. The movie could have been cut in half and still achieved the same effect. While The Good Shepherd is beautifully shot and acted, it is just far too long, it is in dire need of some good editing.
The Good Shepherd was previously released on Blu-ray in 2015. That disc included 16 minutes of deleted scenes, which have unfortunately not been ported over to this release (not that the film really needed to be any longer, but I’d be curious to see what didn’t make the edit). The film’s technical presentation on this new release is quite good. The picture remains clean and clear throughout, even in some of the film’s much darker sequences. The video really captures the colors and look of the period, and provides an excellent level of detail, especially on close-ups of faces. The audio track provides clear dialogue as well as giving the viewer some more-immersive scenes, such as when Edward is in London and the sounds of bombs dropping and air sirens can be heard overhead.
Both films reside on a single Blu-ray disc, which has a basic menu with a subtitle on/off option and a play button for each of the two movies. There is no slipcover or digital copy included with this release.
What’s Included:
Films:
- The Adjustment Bureau (2011) (1:45:43)
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
- The Good Shepherd (2006) (2:47:24)
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
- Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
- Subtitles: English SDH
Extras:
-
This release contains no bonus material.
Final Thoughts:
These two films are probably not what viewers first think of when they need the name Matt Damon. However, I really enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau, finding it to be quite creative in the way it told this sci-fi love story, keeping it it grounded and believable. While The Good Shepherd has a stellar cast and some great performances, I found it to be way too long and a bit confusing at times. Though fans of these longer character dramas may quite enjoy it. The technical merits of the disc are great, but unfortunately none of the bonus material from the previous releases of these films has been carried over to this new double-feature release. That said, the disc is priced budget-friendly or those who are less concerned about bonus material and just want to own these two films.
