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As far as current films go, THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU has a definite "deus ex machina" ending. The movie itself doesn't work for a number of reasons - the momentum of the storyline falls flat early on, and the "bad guys" become downright benevolent by the "climax," just to name a few of its many problems.

At the end, the main conflict (and "logic" of the world) is explained away, through dialogue no less, in an attempt to make the ethereal elements of the story more literal, and try to give us a thematic message about our own destiny, or something like that...

But is was deus ex machina because the "gods" of the world, who incidentally were set-up from the beginning, ultimately decided the hero's fate for him, taking the crisis decision out of his hands, and just in time -- making the whole thing extremely meaningless, and thus very disappointing.

Very well done.

Brilliantly put.