1 THE GENIUS OF SPIELBERG!
What an imagination this guy has! I saw this movie in the
theater, and thought it was really cool. A world without
murder, someday maybe. If you haven't seen this movie yet,
rent it today, it's great. A couple of parts will make you
jump out of your seat! Excellent special FX too!
2 Running for your life never was this intense
This is definatly one of Cruise' best and my favorite of Spielberg's after A.I. Minority Report is snappy, fun and intriguing as Cruise fights to break the rules and find the murderer of his son, and the man who he is supposed to kill.
I say supposed, for Cruise is chief of Police, and Collaberater on a project called PreCrime.
PreCrime in short is supposed to find and stop crimes before they've happened all due to the pheoninimal powers given to three people called the precogs. The Precogs dream of the crimes which is wired into a computer that allows Cruise to view and find the murders. Capture and imprison them.
The only problem is that there is a minority report, being that some preplanned crimes where simply that. Preplanned but without going to really be enacted. Cruise finds this out when he himself is accused of a murder, sending this chief of police on a wild run to escape. Even more intense as Colin Farrell arrives as the FBI agent sent to take over the operations. And who goes after Cruise, even more deadset on capturing then the cops as he believes Precrime is bogus and wrong.
So there's the basic formula to this movie, but what a movie it is. Think of it as Catch me if you can in a space age world, hectic and intrancing.
Spielberg is a genus, and he weaves and tells this story like the best of them. So sit back and enjoy, and let the master take you away into his world.....
3 The Eyes have it!
"Minority Report" is a glossy, glimmery, gossamer, ultimately empty little flick: use it as a pretty screen saver on your 65" Plasma HDTV while you're waiting to watch a better film. It's the cinematic equivalent of Japanese food: looks nice, smells nice, goes down easy, and 15 minutes later you'll be hungry again.
There is, however, a slight catch.
Like uber-Filmmeister Steven Spielberg's other mega-flop "A.I.", "Minority Report" has already been done better, faster, smarter, and wiser: see "Blade Runner" for the soul-crushing dilemma of whether it's moral to use a machine to do things no human would do, or even "Kafka" for an incisive study into the guts of a society that would judge a victim guilty before a crime even occurs.
So why three stars? At one point in the flick, Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise) goes to a black-market eyeball surgeon for a little much-needed wetware transplant. I love Peter Stormare: I usually relish his insanity, and in "Minority Report" he's in top form. For that, the flick gets TWO STARS!
One extra star goes for the rotten ham sandwich in the refrigerator. Dr. Eddie leaves some milk and a fresh sandwich for his patient when he ultimately comes to his senses, then scoots: Cruise wakes up hours later, mostly blind, and staggers to the fridge for a little late night snack.
Unfortunately for Cruise, Dr. Eddie isn't a very tidy housekeeper.
See, there's a bottle of curdled milk and a rotten ham sandwich (evidently intended for an earlier patient), in close proximity to the fresh stuff. Moral: before eating the unidentified and sight-unseen ham sandwich in the underground surgeon's refrigerator, always do a smell-test.
Where were we? Ah yes: the soul-crushing ethical dilemma is the new Department of Pre-Crime with its Amazing Young Men (and Woman) in their Psycho-tropic Fluid Machine, who can aid law enforcement in tracking down crime before it actually occurs! Call John Ashcroft!
But wait a minute---you're not here to spend two hours wrestling with a soul-crushing moral and ethical dilemma concerning civil rights and free will, are you? Naw, man---you're here to see Tom Cruise and high-tech shiny things! And in that department "Minority Report" fulfills in spades. It's what would happen if "Crate & Barrel" had a movie for a twin sister.
Tom Cruise does is spot-on in his one-note role as the obsessive Pre-Crime honcho Jon Anderton, and fingers those psych-profiles like a pro. Samantha Morton (Agatha) is spot-on in her one-note role as the pool-bound female psy-op, and proves girls just wanna have fun. Colin Farrel (Detective Witwer) is spot-on in his one-note role as the obsessive detective. Max Von Sydow (Director Burgess) is spot-on in his one-note role as the cackling founder of Pre-Crime with a deep dark secret (and a ridiculous plot twist).
Neal McDonough (Officer Fletcher), as usual, gets no respect in his role as a tough-as-nails soldier, but does get a wild ride up to the top of the city with Tom Cruise, which is more than most can say. The futuristic Lexus Mark-12 is spot-on in its one-note role as the futuristic Lexus Mark-12.
Again, it looks really pretty on a high-end plasma TV, and it's got Pete Stormare and a rotten ham-sandwich. You could do worse with your two hours.
JSG
4 A sci-fi thriller with a touching and intiguing plot
Minority Report is a fun movie to watch. The action is nicely down and is a true representation of Steven Spielberg's directive abilities, and the plot is intriguing and touching.
The world of Minority Report is of the year 2054, and it looks just like the world would look like then. There are electronic billboards, advanced retinal scanners to give you personal advertisements and to check for criminals, and autopiloted high-speed cars. Nine years earlier the Department of Justice came together to try and solve the problem of the dangerously-high homicide rate in the District of Columbia. Three years later a highly innovative system called Precrime was developed to test out its capabilities of stopping murder. It used Precogs, who turn out to be children of drug addicts that have brain problems as a result of their parent(s)'s drugs, and their dreams of future murders to stop the bloodshed before it actually happens. The captain of the Precrime division is John Anderton (Tom Cruise), a cop who lost his son to a kidnapping/murder just before the launch of Precrime.
After six years, Precrime has effectively stopped murder in DC. As the movie opens up we are treated to an example of Anderton racing to stop a man from committing a double homicide on his cheating wife and the other man she's with. He stops the murder just in time. It's a fine example. Unfortunately, a former cop from the Justice Department, Danny Whitworth (Colin Farrel), has come to Precrime with a mission to uncover the flaws of the system. He's testing every possible weak point and instilling a bit of doubt in some of the system's technicians. It seems like he's willing to go to any lengths to find a flaw, even to the point of faking a Precog vision of a murder. Yep, John Anderton comes in to find that someone's premeditating a murder (planning one). Amazed at the person's stupidity, he starts checking things out, only to find that this idiot, this person committing the murder, is in fact himself. Astonished, he races against the clock to discover the truth behind what happened and the truth behind the system. Is someone setting him up? Can he fight successfully against his own destiny? What's really going on behind-the-scenes at Precrime? The plot moves relentlessly and with intelligence and drama. It explores the psychological aspects of humanity, and comes out with a touching, emotional experience to support the main story. One of the three Precogs, Agatha, when visiting Anderton's old house (just his former wife's now), experiences the love in the air for each other and especially for their believed-to-be-dead son. She gets a vision of the son's possible future if he was alive. It's very touching, and the way it ties into the main story is really neat.
The action, while satisfying, is probably not as good as you thought it would be from previews. That's not saying it's bad; as a matter of fact, they're done very well. But instead of action-packed sci-fi thriller the fights and stuff are watered down and used sparingly, with the movie instead relying on a very strong plot to keep it going. The action is built more of suspense than visuals too. Like in the beginning; can Anderton stop the double homicide in time? Can he escape his former teammates? When he is hiding in a factory, will he be found? Very nice.
The special effects are good, and are used mostly for the big-city sequences with the car-packed super-highways of the future. The audio is done nicely, especially the music. It's very orchestra-like, yet fits the action very well. The sounds of the wave-concussor guns the cops were using in the factory have very cool audio sounds, similar to the awesome effects used with the sonic charges in Attack of the Clones.
The acting in this movie is surprisingly good. Tom Cruise does soem very fine work here, and Colin Farrel rarely gets better. The rest of the cast potrays their characters very well.
Overall, this is probably one of Spielberg's best films and definitely his best sci-fi I think. The best sci-fi movie of 2002. Highly recommended. Although one note: this is not a kid's movie definitely; it's pretty gritty at times and has a mature setting.
5 The future is not predictable...
...your future can be changed. But don't doubt what you may be capable of doing. This was what I got from this movie. The idea of being able to identify people who will commit murders is an intriguing one. What it would be like to live in a city where no murders take place?
Minority report is based on another one of Phillip K Dick's novels, a writer who had no technical inclination but great skill for using science fiction to tell very imaginative and human stories. In this one, the Washington DC police force has a `Pre-Crime' dept, led by John Anderton (Tom Cruise) who can see the most lethal of crimes long before they happen. This, plus some obvious civil rights twisting, allows them to arrest the person they view performing the murder. Things are not great as we are introduced to the characters. Anderton is a good cop, a workaholic who is estranged from his wife because of the death of their son. He is also a drug user, apparently it is some sort of drug that just makes him forget the world and leaves no trace affects.
The big problem comes when John goes into work and sees himself as a murder suspect through the same system that he has used to arrest so many before him. This creates an obvious dilemma and Anderton is soon on the run, knowing that if he is caught, he will be put in status like everyone else without any sort of trial.
Minority report is filled with imagination and explores the deep recessed memories of the characters. The futuristic world is unlike many others, washed out with bright lights and filled with possible exploits of technology that could very well become real in the future. Imagine an advertisement board that scans your eye to ID you and then uses your name in the spoken ad.
Spielberg makes a huge hit with this movie and makes up gracefully for the abomination that was AI. This story moves at brisk pace and is chock full of his signature touches. Cruise does a great job portraying the troubled cop who looses himself in work by day, and does the same with narcotics at night, making it painfully obvious that he is not dealing with his own issues.
The movie covers a lot of ground has John discovers the truth as he tries to find out why he would be seen as a murderer to the `Pre-cogs'. The movie is a thriller of the highest caliber and should not be compared with AI, even though it shares some of its look.
6 Outstandingly Simple-Minded, Stentorian Trash . . .
IN A WORLD . . .
Where everyone ORATES and no one can speak,
And everything happens at a Funky, Disco Beat . . .
A film made for an audience not sufficiently clever to enjoy genuine science . . (omit that last sentence) . . A film of which the 2nd highest critical compliment is "neat" and the better-valued compliment is designated principally by VOLUME: "NEAT!"
A loud, neat distraction during a physical assault.
7 One of the best Science Fiction movies ever made
Minority Report is an intense thriller that does not let up until the end. Adapting a Phillip K. Dick story, Steven Spielberg blends stunning visual effects in with powerful acting to make a movie with twists turns and suspense that will have you guessing who the real murderer is.
Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, head of a Washington D.C pilot police program that prevents crimes from being committed in the year 2054. He's extremely effective in his job catching murderers before they commit murder. Working with information from three psychics the "Precogs" they've reduced murders in the nation's capital to 0%. On the eve of the program's expansion nationally, the precogs predict John Anderton is going to murder someone in 36 hours. This puts him against his own program in an attempt to clear his own name. Note how the story uses the word murder, which is a premeditated intentional act of killing someone instead of the word kill. This one simple use of a word definition as a plot device makes the story all the more intriguing because Anderton is not a murderer. He has his issues, (drug abuse, dealing with the death of his son Sean,) but has the restraint not to deliberately murder someone in spite of those issues. So his attempt to clear his name has meaning. I don't want to give away any of the great plot twists; I have so much respect for this film I don't feel its right to spoil it for people who haven't seen it.
Spielberg treats us to some wonderful action sequences (the chase in the alley is great, the fights in the Lexus factory are amazing.) Spielberg thankfully keeps these sequences short to keep the story moving. But the special effects are secondary to the storytelling as they should be. He focuses on the characters and their motivations and that is the key to GOOD science fiction/ fantasy. I was more interested in finding out whether or not John would commit murder in 36 hours than anything else.
Tom Cruise gives a powerful performance as John Anderton showing us his intensity, drive and emotional pain. Colin Ferrell is nasty as a Justice Department official. You just hate him. The actress who plays the female precogs makes the movie. Her intense performance makes you feel her character's fear and sense of overwhelm in her first trip out in the real world. The actress who plays Anderton's wife is great too. She makes you feel tension and fear of her character. However, The best performance comes from veteran actor Max Von Snydow. He's a total chameleon not letting us know his true intentions until the end of the movie.
Steven Spielberg is at the top of his game here making one of the best science fiction movies since Robocop. He uses less special effects and more storytelling and character development to show us a clear picture of what life in the near future is like.
A Shawn James Essential video Buy this one today because it will be one of the best movie experiences you will ever have.
8 A Disappointing Film.
I hope that Spielberg's collaboration with cinematographer Kaminski is over, because the cinematography in this film has to be some of the worst I've ever seen. There is no excuse this time for the lousy look as there was with Saving Private Ryan. The excuse then was that they wanted it to look like it was shot with a cheap camera by a battlefield cameraman. This time the cinematographer's limitations come to the surface and we see that bleaching out the color for his bizarre visual style is for no more purpose than bleaching out the color for his bizarre visual style. Kaminski has even made the ridiculous statement in the July 2002 issue of American Cinematographer, that, "If you can't see or sense grain in the image, you're not experiencing the magic of movies."
What kind of idiotic statement is that? I think it's time he go back to Poland and work over there for awhile. I think Spielberg should sign up a more classical cinematographer for his future films.
Outside of the lousy cinematography, the pacing of the film is rather slow and the movie is rather predictable, and though some of the special effects are good, like the little robotic creatures, several uses are rather bad, such as the blind drug dealers eye sockets, and even the scenes with the cars, they look like computer cartoons! Bring back model work, if that's the best they can do with the vehicles!
Not really too much excitement or action for that matter. The original story by Philip K. Dick is probably better. When will these filmmakers realize that "film noir," is over with not just because the 1940's are over with, but also, because it's not worth bringing back?
9 There's A Better Movie Lurking In The Story
I started watching again Minority Report on cable this evening. I've seen it before and have the DVD. My opinion of the movie has gone downhill since seeing it for the first time shortly after it came out on DVD. As a great popcorn flick with pretensions of warnings about power, I suppose it's okay. I've just become very irritated by it because it could have been a first rate film. The whole idea of pre-cogs and pre-crimes is fascinating and scary (thanks to Philip K. Dick), but the execution is just Hollywood. Spielberg's and Cruise's film in my view suffers from three major flaws. The film has an overblown production design. The action sequences are pure Hollywood pandering to the target audience. And Tom Cruise again gives a swaggering, "intense" and essentially meaningless performance. Even with this said, Max von Sydow gives a strong, complex performance and Samantha Morton as the pre-cog Agatha is little short of amazing.
There is a first-rate, disturbing and subtle movie lurking within the story, but this version is something of a disappointment.
10 The future looks bright, but can looks be deceiving?
It's 2054 and Washington DC is the safest city in the nation. Murder's been wiped out by the Pre-Crime Division. For the past six years, three pre-cognitives housed safely in an ultra secure building have been predicting murder. Why murder? Because nothing touches the precogntive's mind like murder.
Pre-Crime is going nationwide. Everyone's excited, but John Anderton (Cruise) discovers some flaws in the system. Just as he is pointing out those flaws, the pre-cogs identify him as a future killer and he's on the run.
Will he manage to not kill the man he's supposed to kill? Was he set up and if so, who did it?
The premise is interesting and original. Cruise did a decent job acting, but the film could use a bit more 'cutting to the chase.' Most of the images are flimed in dark blue-and-white type motif that begins to wear on the eyes.
11 Good Visuals, Horrible Film
I guess I am in the Minority.
I am not a Tom Cruise fan at all. And with such a great story at the core of the film, it should have been used as the sequel to TOTAL RECALL. Personally I would have liked to have seen Arnie, or at the Very Least Paul Verhoeven, do this story in their own way.
Visually nice, and Tom Cruise do not a good film make.
12 Not bad, but skip the last 5 minutes' SCHMALTZFEST!
...this being a Spielberg movie, I was just cringing in anticipation of his inevitable schmaltzy happy Hollywood ending to a surprisingly (for him) thought-provoking and unpredictable film. Those rather un-Spielbergian qualities mainly come from the fact that "Minority Report" is based on a short story by the heavyweight postmodern writer Phillip K. Dick, who also wrote the book from which the classic existentialist-sci-fi film "Blade Runner" (directed by the relatively schmaltz-free Ridley Scott) was adapted.
And true to form, Spielberg doesn't disappointment---our hero seems to be defeated, only to be rescued and rise from the ashes of his apparent destruction to rid us of the Insidious Bad Guy, and closes out the movie back in the saddle with his Major Romantic Interest who's shown growing a belly about the size of a Volkswagen just before the final credits, which are of course accompanied by the Designated Uplifting And Bombastic Orchestral Score of John Williams.
Now that you know the usual Spielbergian/Hollywood focus-group-bootlicking ending---and to its credit, this ending is not immediately apparent during the FIRST ten minutes of the movie, unlike most Hollywood blockbusters---you can sit back and enjoy the first 95% of the film. Spielberg gets to go beserk with all sorts of technological gizmos since this film is of course set in the future, and there are a couple of somewhat original action/fight scenes to keep us entertained throughout.
What makes the film more than the usual Hollywood puke of brainless special effects showboating but actually INTERESTING however, is the plot and subtext as supplied by Phillip K. Dick---which is to say, the conflict between technology, humanity, and metaphysics. This being a Spielberg film it never gets anywhere as dark and disturbing as Dick's work usually is, unfortunately. But there is still enough Dick in there to outweigh the worst of Spielberg, at least until the last 5 minutes which I recommend you watch while drinking copious amounts of alcohol or some other brain-deadening activity.
Just makes you wonder how much better this film could've been, in the hands of a director like Ridley Scott or Terry Gilliam. Oh well, at least Spielberg didn't excrete another God-forsaken schmaltz-orgy like his recent "The Terminal."
13 "The system that keeps us safe also keeps us free."
Set in 2054, after Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow) and John Anderton (Tom Cruise) have developed a method of wiping out crime before it happens in the nation's capital, this sci-fi thriller shows us a world in which technology supersedes humanity and achieves almost divine importance. Integral to the pre-crime unit, which Anderton (Cruise) heads, are three "pre-cogs," innocent survivors of genetic experimentation who see murders before they take place. The pre-cogs are maintained under laboratory conditions in the "Temple" beneath the high tech police headquarters, where their visions, which become holographic images, allow the pre-crime unit to arrest and imprison "pre-murderers."
With a national referendum pending on implementing the system nation-wide (and the usual political jockeying for power), Anderton suddenly finds himself set up and identified as a pre-murderer. He needs to find out who has set him up, who the victim is, and what his own motive will be--before he himself can be arrested for pre-murder.
Spielberg's fascinating special effects are used here to question the almost-divine role technology plays in this future society and to highlight the contrast between humanity and technology. "We're more like clergy than cops," one detective states. Prisoners are imprisoned by a "halo," but holographic images of crimes still need to be "read" by fallible humans. Futuristic cars, which can go up, down, and sideways, are employed for traditional (very human) chase scenes, and "spiders," tiny robots, are programmed to slip under doors en masse to search for pre-criminals who, as humans, still try to hide in the bathroom.
Original music by John Williams and Paul Haslinger contrasts with traditional music, ranging from Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" to Henry Mancini's "Moon River." Janusz Kaminski's cinematography emphasizes the black and white "Twilight Zone" atmosphere, the pre-cogs' dreamlike visions (shown in intense light), and the cold sterility of the setting. Cruise, as usual, is competent in his role, von Sydow is effective as the "grand old man," and Samantha Morton is a marvelously eerie pre-cog who manages to elicit considerable sympathy.
The film, however, is long, with several, successive "endings," full of twists. Because the history of the pre-cogs and of how their talents were discovered is not clear for much of the film, the film is unnecessarily abstruse. The tension is high throughout, however, and numerous chase scenes keep the viewer on the edge of the seat. Visually intriguing, thematically well developed, and loads of fun to watch, this film is terrific, light entertainment. Mary Whipple
14 Thrilling movie for sci-fi buffs ...
I'm a big sci-fi buff and this movie at the top of my list. Both the cast and story line is great. I used a coupon from UnderTag.com, so it was almost free for me too.
15 Classic Sci-Fi From Spielberg
Roger Ebert called this the best film of 2002 and I am hard-pressed to disagree. Steven Spielberg after the apparent failure of "A.I."(not in my book) delved right back into the sci-fi genre. Freed from having to make a film that had to live up to the expectations of the late Stanley Kubrick, Spielberg made a film that contained his own personal vision but in some ways is informed by the lessons he learned from Kubrick. There is a certain cynicism about the future that Spielberg imagines but ultimately there is room for optimism. The film concerns a future where crime is virtually eliminated through the use of "pre-cogs", drug-induced seers of the future who foretell crime before it is actually committed. Tom Cruise plays Anderton, head of the pre-cog unit who is also grappling with the loss of his young son and a separation from his wife. Things are going swimmingly for Anderton until he is implicated in a future crime and it's his time to run. The themes in this film resonate such as the morality of using technology to violate one's civil rights for crimes you may or may not commit. The film is also a slam-bang action film that will entertain even if you don't feel like dealing with heavy themes. The cinematography, art direction, and special effects are all top-notch. Cruise is excellent and is equalled by Samantha Morton, who plays one of the pre-cogs, Agatha. There is a great supporting cast here with Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, and Kathryn Morris. The story has twists and turns that make sense and result in a satisfying conclusion. "Minority Report" definitely ranks as one of Spielberg's crowning achievements.
16 Best Film of 2002!
I have to agree with Ebert. This is the best film of 2002. Steven Spielberg took us farther into film noir than ever before, and we are left with one of his best works ever. Tom Cruise stars in this film as John Anderton, the chief of the police force unit, "Precrime", who use the psychic premonitions of three teenagers, "precogs" to stop murders before they happen. This film is wonderfully shot through Spielberg's imagination of what the D.C. area would look like in 2054, and surpasses Jaws for the most frightening Spielberg moment ever with the scene involving Anderton and the "precog" Agatha, played superbly by Samantha Morton. The film's strongest point may not even be how well it dabbles with the elements of a psychological thriller, but how much this film doesn't seem like it's possibilities are too far off. Great flick!
17 One of Spielberg's Best
I was stunned when I first saw this film in the theater, and enjoy it immensely every time I pop in the DVD. Visually captivating with its grainy footage, washed out colors, and delightful visual motifs, "Minority Report" makes up for any plot holes with sheer visual brilliance. Next to "Schlindler's List," perhaps Spielberg's greatest achievement.
18 Spoiler? Read it here!
Visually? Stunning. Acting? Super. Plot? Full of holes. I recommend seeing it just for the visuals. I was really digging the way it looked, the way it flowed, but here's the things I couldn't get past. 1. If the Precogs couldn't see assault, rape, or anything else short of murder, how could the female precog see everything she saw at the mall? (stop here, put down some change, don't forget the umbrella) 2. If there is a ball for the murdered person, and a ball for the murderer, how come there wasn't a ball dropped for the real murderer, Tom Cruise's boss? 3. Why is the deviant's plan so incredibly genius that it hangs on a thread and if ONE thing doesn't go to plan, it would all fall apart, yet it all does work? I don't know. Kind of sketchy. Go see it if you like Tom Cruise. Go see it if you like Spielberg. (it's 10x better than that A.I. crap.) Go see it if you like Sci-Fi. Don't go see it if your looking for a bulletproof plot... because it's not here.
19 A who-dun-it film with a whooping budget!!
Good film, the effects in it are pretty cool, but this film isn't really sci-fi, it's more mystery chase film in the future. The actings good, well it's not bad, what does that mean, anything u want, its so subjective.
The film style it self is more grimy, noirish, funny angles and darker colours and all that. All in all, it's a good film given the blockbuster treatment but it's not really a blockbuster film, this is a good thing, it won't please everyone.
Of the characters, i really don't like Lemar, something about that charcter kinda irritates me, apart from his role in the story i just hate his condescending prescence in the film, so i guess the actor really nailed the role anyway. Also i'm a bit unsure if the plot makes complete sense, cause if u think about it, the pre-cog saw the murder but it only happened cause she saw it and set of the chain of events responding to what she started. Does this make her a diety of sorts? is that what the conversation about the boys being clergy was winking at?
As i said, not your typical blockbuster, some funny deranged moments take place in this film also.
20 Spielberg Hits The Mark
By the year 2054, humanity--or at least the population living in and around Washington D.C.--has implemented a novel idea regarding crime (murder) prevention. Making use of the abilities a trio of "precogs," individuals who, as a result of a prenatal drug program, have acquired the precognitive ability to see murders in advance (and provide the date and time of the crime), D.C. has formed a Pre-Crime Police Unit headed by Detective John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise.
Upon receiving any notification of an impending murder (called either a "red ball" [a unplanned, heat-of-the-moment murder] or a "brown ball" [one with forethought to it], the unit springs into action to arrest the perpetrator. Summary judgment results in the "guilty" being immediately placed in biological stasis and sent to a storage facility. There is no discussion as to length of sentence, so one can only assume those being incarcerated are done so for the remainder of their lives.
All is going smoothly for pre-crime until Anderton begins to investigate a years-old precog case involving the drowning murder of a woman. He quickly finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue after he is accused by the precogs of a brown ball murder set to take place in three days hence. Convinced that he is being framed, and being pursued by every pre-crime cop in the city, Cruise attempts to expose a fatal flaw in the system that he had so avidly supported.
The movie title is a reference to the report generated when at least one of the precogs sees a murder a little "differently" than the others. Anderton tries to prove the existence of a Minority Report for the murder he has been projected to commit in the hope that it will exonerate him.
Cruise ably plays Anderton, a drug-addicted cop wracked with guilt over the mysterious disappearance of his young son from a community swimming pool (an event that comes to play a crucial role in the story). Pursuing him is Colin Farrell in the role of Detective Danny Witwer, a smarmy federal agent who has his doubts about the concept of pre-crime but has been tasked to oversee the bureau's transfer to federal authority. Max Von Sydow is Director of Pre-Crime Lamar Burgess, a man with some very dark secrets who is willing to protect pre-crime and those secrets at any cost.
The story, although a tad long, runs smoothly, and the special effects are simply superb. The acting is well-done all-around.
Overall, a highly recommended movie about the perils of short-circuiting constitution protections in the criminal justice system.
21 A film that succeeds on every one of many levels
Minority Report combines an elaborate plot you can never really pin down until the very end, loads of summer blockbuster-type action, all sorts of nifty futuristic technologies and special effects, the star power of Tom Cruise, and the direction of Steven Spielberg. Given all that, this movie was virtually guaranteed to please audiences, and it does not disappoint. While the plot is loosely adapted from a short story by Philip K. Dick (who truly belongs in the upper echelon of science fiction writers but is still vastly underappreciated), it does manage to embody much of the sociopolitical questions and concerns related to technological advancement that animated Dick's body of work. In the world of Minority Report, set in 2054, privacy has basically disappeared. Retinal scans trace your every move, your mind is constantly bombarded by customized advertising (it's like having your brain infected by unlimited and infinitely invasive spyware programs), and you can be arrested and put away (in a comatose cocoon) for a crime you did not commit - if you live in Washington, D.C., at least. The experimental precrime unit set up in the nation's capitol six year ago quickly reduced the murder rate to zero, employing a trio of exceptional young people gifted (or cursed, depending on which way you look at it) with an uncanny ability to see murders before they happen - thanks to the milky liquid they lie in, their prevision powers are significantly boosted and translated into electrical data the precrime authorities can view themselves. Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is the lead investigator, and he interprets the signals of the precognitives' visions in order to locate and stop each impending murder before it can happen. Things are going very well - until the federal government sticks their noses into things. A national referendum will soon decide whether precrime will be adopted nationwide, and Anderton finds himself having to deal with an annoying little runt from the Attorney General's office - Danny Witwer, played by a silly-mustachioed Colin Farrel. Anderton and his boss, Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow) do not want their project turned over to the feds, but things get unimaginably complicated when the precognitives identify Anderton himself as a soon-to-be murderer. Anderton runs, anxious to prove his innocence and desperately anxious to understand what is going on. Convinced he would never murder anyone (especially a predicted victim he has never even heard of), he has to face the troubling fact that the precognitives are never wrong. His friends and coworkers now face the unusual task of going after one of their own, and Anderton proves himself quite difficult to catch.
I thought the ending of the movie was superb; in many ways, Minority Report is a mystery, and the film plays its cards pretty close to the vest up until the final few scenes. If you like action and dazzling special effects, you'll find that here in spades, but those who crave an intelligent story behind all the bells and whistles will be doubly pleased by this film. Apart from the heart of the story itself, Minority Report provides food for thought that you may still be chewing on days later - e.g., the whole privacy issue and the Constitutional implications that, while not really addressed in the film, come across loud and clear; then there's the whole matter of the isolated precognitives, three young people denied a real life in the outside world and forced to live and relive horrifying previsions of murders day in and day out. Tom Cruise turns in another sterling performance, and his character is remarkably human and complex, as the loss of his son six years earlier and the problems he continues to have adjusting to that loss make of him an incredibly human type of hero. I should also mention the fact that the film boasts several very funny scenes, serving to release the viewer's tension momentarily - that's a good thing because things get pretty tense as the story progresses and you'll want to be mentally ready for the twists waiting for you around the final few bends.
The movie itself runs almost two and a half hours, and a second disc features an impressive number of featurettes examining the origins of this first Cruise-Spielberg project, the making of the film, and somewhat technical looks at the special effects that bring the world of 2054 to vivid life on the screen. This all adds up to a DVD that will appeal to almost everyone out there who enjoys good movies.
22 Great addition to any collection
This movie is very captivating. I gotta admit, i saw the 2 1/2 hour runtime and was thinking how boring at least an hour of it will be, but I was wrong, action all around. Yeah the beginning is boring (first 5 minutes i'd say) but just like every movie, we have to get introduced to the story. (yeah i love getting right into the action). All the other reviewers already told you the story so i won't dwell on that, rather on the great reviews it has received. Trust me, don't be fooled by the runtime or the "its a sci fi boring movie" cause this is a great movie. Definately get this movie as it is a keeper.
23 Almost perfect
This movie was great until the end. I won't give anything away. But the movie could have had a very ironic ending, but they chose to take it further and end the movie on what most seem to consider a sour note. If they had ended the movie the way you would expect it to, it would be great. However, the package and presentation is great. The bonus disc more than makes up for the ending in my opinion.
24 A turning point for Tom Cruise?
No "Blade Runner," "Minority Report" is far superior to "Paycheck" (the three are based on Philip K. Dick stories).
Tom Cruise does not follow the classic Cruise formula here. The formula goes like this: Cruise is a winner with a flaw. Cruise takes a fall & suffers self-doubt. Cruise pulls himself together, emerges more of a winner than before & wins the girl. We've seen this played out since "Risky Business," through jet flying, bartending, race-car driving, even in an adaptation of a John Grisham book. But it's not quite what happens here, and that's a good thing. I've been a Cruise fan ever since "Risky Business," which was one of my favorite movies during college, but I've also seen his flaws and wondered if he was set for the kind of lifetime career say a Paul Newman had or whether he'd eventually play out. "Minority Report" makes me think Cruise could keep doing this for life, after he starts noticeably aging, and that he might end up being one of those superstar actors who actually gets considerably better as an old man than he ever was in his youth, like Sean Connery and (in my opinion) Sir Alec Guinness, for example. Bottom line: This movie is Cruise moving in a good direction, unlike the lamentable "Vanilla Sky" or "Cocktail," both of which were low points.
The car scene, where Anderton (Cruise) gets a car built around him as he escapes, is silly & the movie's low point. Otherwise, this is outstanding. The spiders that read retinas are wonderful, especially the scene where we see them entering a series of apartments in the same building, interrupting various activities such as domestic fights & lovemaking, which is brilliant.
Agatha is wonderfully portrayed by Samantha Morton. Indeed Cruise and Morton are the best in the movie.
I love the seeing/not seeing theme that continues throughout the movie. It's Shakespearean, reminiscent of "King Lear," in which one of the main characters only starts to see after his eyes are put out.
Here's a case where movies inspire me to read a writer (Philip K. Dick) rather than my enjoyment of a writer inspiring me to see the movies. I will be reading his work.
Yep. Thoroughly entertaining escapism while trapped in a barracks room with five other Soldiers on a tropical island during a hurricane, which is when I saw it.
Much to be encouraged about in this movie. I hope we see more of this quality of movie rather than the endless trash Hollywood seems to have been churning out in the past couple of years.
25 Tom Cruise plays his usual role
I doubt this guy can do any other role. Each time he's the same, and in none of his roles can you differentiate between the characters. I found some points in this movie extremely slow, although it speeded up towards the end, and I got really into it.
What I found funny about this movie, was the fact that I didn't recognise Samantha Morton until she came out of her 'bath'. She's got one of those recognisable faces. I had a laugh during the movie, cos I could hear the conversation between her & her agent in my head. It probably went something like this:
Agent: I have a role for you Samantha. What you have to do all the time is cling onto Tom Cruise ...
Samantha: I'll take it!
(pause)
Samantha: What's the catch?
Agent: You have to shave you head, and when you're not clinging onto Tom, you spend most of your time in a bath.
Samantha: Oh ...
The rest of the cast include of course Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, and Max von Sydow, who was one of the priests in The Exorcist.
I normally like Colin Farrell in movies - especially in Daredevil, with his Orish accent. But in this, he annoyed the hell out of me! And why? It wasn't because of his funny sounding accent. No, it was because he was constantly chewing gum. His mouth was so distracting, it was like watching a cow chewing cud. And why was this I wonder, the fact there was absolutely no one smoking in the movie?! Apparently, he also had a lot of trouble delivering the line "surely you understand the fundamental questionability of Pre-Crime methodology".
There's quite a few famous cameos in this, mainly in the train scene, so you have to keep your eyes peeled for them. These include: Paul Thomas Anderson (who directed Tom Cruise in Magnolia and it is reported that he is so hard to find that Anderson himself does not know where he appears; Cameron Crowe, Tom's director from Jerry Maguire and Vanilla Sky as the guy who looks at Anderton over the top of his newspaper and recognizes him; and Cameron Diaz, Tom's co-star in Vanilla Sky plays the blonde woman sitting just behind the man who looks over at Anderton on the train.
The PreCogs I found really interesting, and of course a woman - Samantha Morton - was the main PreCog, the one had intelligence, of course, what else would we expect? Although it's rarely mentioned (I don't remember hearing the male PreCogs names mentioned) the PreCogs" were all named after famous mystery writers. Dashiell Hammett (The Maltese Falcon), 'Conan Doyle, Arthur' (Sherlock Holmes), and Agatha Christie (Murder on the Orient Express).
What my Dad managed to point out, were the references to Stanley Kubrick movies:
--> When Anderton undergoes his eye replacement procedure, his eyes are held open by clamps, reminiscent of the treatment sequences in A Clockwork Orange.
--> Burgess, (Max von Sydow) is named after author Anthony Burgess, who also wrote about crime control in the future in A Clockwork Orange.
--> Directly after the opening montage of the husband murdering his wife, it cuts directly to a close-up shot of the "precog" Agatha's eye. The exact same shot is used at the end of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey after the light show.
--> When Anderton jumps off the car and through the window, he lands into a yoga classroom. The head of the class is dressed exactly like the rich old woman Alex kills in A Clockwork Orange. Like Alex, Anderton is characterized by his drug abuse and love of classical music.
--> When John Anderton and Agatha are running out of the shopping mall, they pass by a homeless man laying in front of the door who asks for change. The vagrant in the tunnel scene in A Clockwork Orange, where Alex and his droogs beat him is reminiscent of this.
--> Agatha yelling "murder!" a reference to "redrum!" from Shining, The (1980).
and also Bladerunner (both this & Bladerunner were written by Philip K Dick, although in the credits, this is based on a SHORT story by the author):
--> Both films begin with an extreme close-up shot of an open eye, and repeat the eye motif throughout.
--> Rutger Hauer's character (in Blade Runner) visits the genetic engineer who created his artificial eyes, Tom Cruise's character visits the surgeon who replaces his eyes.
--> Both films feature detectives making a key discovery by spotting a woman reflected in the mirror in the background of a crime-scene image that they are looking at.
--> Several times, bright shafts of light pour in through the windows behind the characters as they talk; this effect was used extensively in the earlier film.
--> After Cruise's encounter with Crowe, he drives with Agatha through a gorgeous green scenery, and tells her they're going "Someplace safe", a scene which parallels the ending scene of Blade Runner (the original, not the Director's Cut version)
--> As Anderton and Agetha leave the shopping mall they pass a woman on the left hand side carrying an umbrella with an integrated light. This appears identical to those carried by the citizens of Los Angeles in Blade Runner when Deckard walks the streets.
I haven't seen either of these movies, mainly because A Clockwork Orange freaks me out too much, and we don't have Bladerunner on DVD. I also noticed similarities to the Matrix (mainly just because of those little spider things, when they're looking for Anderton), and Back To The Future, but I suppose it was just all the future stuff.
I did enjoy this movie, although there was a lot of talking about nonsense, which simple people will NOT understand. I'd highly recommend it, if you can stand watching Tom & Colin long enough for Samantha to steal the movie away from them.
26 Eerie prediction of the future?
Years before Voice-Stress Analyzer, routine polygraphs, and personality profiles, Phillip K. Dick asked the interesting question: Is intent to commit the crime automatic guilt? In Minority Report, Pre-Crime anticipates the offense and stops the crimes before they happen.....or do they??? Would it always, always and without exception, have played out as anticipated? Tom Cruise, framed and put in a position where he'll have an irresistible urge to kill, is told by the PreCog that he can still choose and begins to wonder. A frightening vision of a possible future, and great entertainment. Highly recommend.
27 "The Best Film Of 2002"
Which is a better film, "Minority Report" or "Blade Runner?" I believe that "Minority Report,"is why, because of the plot. "Blade Runner" focused more on 3D effects than on the human story. What I love about "Blade Runner" is the vision of the future and the settings that were both dark and somber. "Minority Report" is also a dark and yet beautiful film. But I have to give credit to "Metropolis"(1925), the first and best SCI-FI film ever.
"Blade Runner," "Dark City," and "The Fifth Element" would have never been created without the inspiration of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."
THE PLOT
In The Year 2054, a so-called "pre-crime division" is working busily around Washington, DC. It's purpose is to use the precog(native) potential of three genetically altered humans to prevent murders. Author, Dashielle, and Agatha (Samantha Morton), whose power is the strongest of the three. When the three precogs, who only work together, floating in what the police call the Temple, have a vision the names of the victim and the perpetrator as well as video imagery of the crime and the exact time that it will happen, are given out to these special police who then try to prevent the crime from happening.
Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, "Minority Report" is about a cop name John Anderton (Tom Cruise). John has the tables turned on him when he is accused of a future murder, and he must investigate the circumstances of this murder and prevent it before it is too late.
*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The film examines the political and ethical dilemma of arresting a person before the crime is committed. The project of pre-crime prevention is having it's first trial run, and the citizens of the city will vote on it in the next election. If the people vote it in as law the crime rate will drop drastically, but it is unknown whether innocent people might be imprisoned.
(...)
THE DIRECTING
There's a scene that most directors call a two-face-shot but Samantha Morton and Tom Cruise are facing the opposite direction. The two actors chins lay on each other's shoulders, as if almost hugging each other. Then Spielberg takes the camera and places it on the right side of Tom body and captures the two face shot. Tom's face and Samantha's eye's and mouth portray a very powerful scene. Another shot that I call the "Taxi Driver" shot is when Spielberg trails the camera on the roof of the peoples apartment, showing the spiders identifying the people. These days that scene would be digital but Spielberg never uses 3D unless he has too. Spielberg directs his films in a new yet classical way.
THE ACTORS
Samantha Morton's face conveys total fear and total authority. She received an Oscar nomination for her role as the mute girlfriend in Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown." Tom Cruise didn't get nominated for his breakthrough performance in "Vanilla Sky," shame on the Academy. Tom did receive a Golden Globe for "Magnolia" and 3 Academy Award nominations for the following films, "Born on The Forth of July", "Jerry Maguire" and "Magnolia." Collin Farrell delivers his best performance in this movie to date.
There is a mental love story portrayed between Agatha and John. They've both been scarred deeply in the past and fate brings them together at this crucial time in John's life to solve this mystery. The film ends with Agatha sitting in a chair thinking about both her mother and John.
28 One of the best science fiction movies in history
Brace yourself - intelligent sci-fi isn't dead, nor is it an oxymoron. You wouldn't have known that for several years, with dull releases such as Alien:Resurrection, Battlefield Earth, the new Star Wars travesties, Chronicles of Riddick, and Starship Troopers littering the sci-fi landscape with one dreadful bomb after another. Minority Report breaks that chain, and shows Steven Speilberg in top form once again.
Of course it's Spielberg - who else is out there to bring 5 start science-fiction to the screen? This is the man that brought us E.T. over 20 years ago, also regarded as one of the greatest sci-fi movies in history. When he chooses to, Spielberg delivers movies with carefully crafted stories, fully developed characters that draw us in and that we care about, realistic scripts, and of course special-effects that support the film rather than stand center-stage as the main focus. This film is not only no exception, it raises Spielberg's bar.
Tom Cruise is well cast in his role as the cop at the center of the film, but the supporting cast is where the excellence truly lies. Max Von Sydow plays his role to perfection and never lets you really know, until the end, where his loyalties lie. Colin Farrell, playing Cruise's foil, is more than just Hollywood's new pretty boy here - this film gives him real meat to work with and act with. And he's really good at it.
This film exemplifies what science fiction film should be. Beyond eye-candy with too many special effect, sci-fi should be a reflection of our present condition and present day life, and should provoke us to think about ourselves, or our society, or our condition. This film does so and lends itself to multiple viewings, each time giving us something new to see or think about.
I cannot recommend this film too many times. Easily one of the ten best science fiction films in history.
29 Acceptable film noir
This film is preposterous science fiction which turns into exciting film noir. But no more preposterous than the recent "The Mummy" or "The Aliens" series. Spielburg says he wanted to create a dark film unlike A.I. and that is perhaps why the numerous science fiction sequences do not necessarily seem as spectacular at first as they are in "The Mummy". The first hurdle to overcome is the science fiction, then you can concentrate on the film noir. Downtown D.C. is recognizable in 2054 but the suburbs are futuristic. Particularly noteworthy are the magnetic car system and hovercraft helicopters which float on air, the policemen who can fly, and their weapons, some of which use soundwaves to stun victims and another called the "sick stick". The Precogs are children of drug-addicted parents and can see murders before they occur; these can be distinguished into red ball (unpremeditated) and brown ball (premeditated). They float in a milky soup which makes their brainwaves easier to read. Detective John Anderton "reads" the precogs' somewhat disorganized brainwaves by separating them and viewing them on a screen using hand signals,discarding what seems irrelevant,narrowing down the murder in place and time, somewhat like a symphony conductor. There hasn't been a murder in D.C. since the program started; Director Lamar Burgess takes much of the credit for this, and the program is about to become national in scope.
Agatha, the female, is the most intelligent Precog but her mother,Anne Lively, wanted her back at the program's inception since she had conquered her drug addiction. So Anne had to be eliminated if Agatha was to work for Precrime; Agatha was indispensable to Precrime. Anne had to be killed without the Precogs seeing it, a risky undertaking. The murder had to appear to be an "echo" a term defined in the movie. The main subplot concerns Detective John Anderton and the death of his young son six years prior; he is forced by his unquenchable anger to kill his son's kidnapper in revenge;the Precogs see this murder quite a bit in advance and a federal agent is brought into the case to track Anderton's every move. The bulk of the film and its special effects concerns Anderton's attempts to escape the police and the federal agent. Anderton's ex- wife also plays a supporting role. Even Agatha can see Anderton's love for his son and "all this love in the family."
Samantha Morton is hilarious as Agatha. Anderton kidnaps her in an attempt to forestall the murder which he himself will commit. Enervated by her life in the milky soup, Agatha lacks enough muscle tone to walk by herself.The scenes in the shopping mall, where Anderton attempts to evade the police with Agatha's futuristic premonitions guiding him are hilarious, and numerous other scenes are interesting, notably Anderton's eye-replacement surgery, his attempts to evade the eye-scanning spiders underwater in the housing complex, which is cut away to reveal other people making love or having an argument when the spiders arrive to scan their eyes, and his escape act among the magnetic cars. Notable too, are the wide screen advertisements directed specifically at the viewer, in this case, Anderton.
30 Riveting
Spielberg is at the top of his game with Minority Report. He doesn't just settle for the masterful special effects; he takes care to develop the human drama as well. Combined, the stunning visuals and the moving story line make for a great film.
Tom Cruise gives an intense performance and gets our sympathy as an officer in the pre-crime division, a law enforcement unit that prevents murders before they happen. They are able to do this by using the mental powers of three pre-cogs, three human beings with strange powers and strange minds who can see the future. The Cruise character does not have a happy past. After the disappearance of his young son, who was kidnapped at a public pool, his marriage has fallen apart; he now lives for his job. Then the unthinkable happens - the precogs project an image of Cruise murdering someone, and he becomes a suspect on the run, trying to evade capture while figuring out why he is set to kill a man he doesn't recognize.
The movie is an engrossing futuristic thriller with unexpected twists. The supporting cast is also strong. Colin Farrell plays an investigator looking into the pre-crime unit for glitches; his performance is suitably cool and smarmy, though he is not necessarily the bad guy. And Samantha Morton plays Agatha, the pre-cog who holds an integral clue to the mystery of the false accusation against Cruise; Morton's presence gives depth and an ethereal power to Agatha, in what might have been a shallow performance in the hands of another actress.
31 Minority Report
Although I missed a little bit of this movie because the DVD would not stop skipping in certain parts, this movie was absolutely incredible. The story is something fairly original, and unexpected. The acting is top notch, with performances by Cruise and Farrell that are pretty much the best they will ever do. The special effects are believable and fun to watch. This is an all around great sci-fi movie. I classify it as a mix between Blade Runner and Dirty Harry.
32 GOOD MOVIE GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS MOVIE WAS SO COOL YOU HAVE TO BUY IT GIRLS OUT
THERE WHO LOVE TOM CRUISE BUY IT BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR
33 GOOD MOVIE GET IT NOW!(...)
THIS MOVIE WAS SO COOL YOU HAVE TO BUY IT GIRLS OUT
THERE WHOLOVE TOM CRUISE BUY IT BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR
34 Perfect blend of special effects and story
I'm not a fan of science fiction. Neither am I impressed with dazzling special effects. I'm the old fashioned type who likes a good story with interesting characters. "Minority Report" is one of those rare films that succeed for me because it uses special effects to further telling the story. The characters and events do not exist as props for the high tech computerized digitary. This is how it should be.
When Director Steven Spielberg gets a movie right, as he does here, he produces classics (such as "Schindler's List," "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Jaws" and "Saving Private Ryan").
This is one where he hits the nail on the head. Tom Cruise's who's performances can be hit or miss is perfect as the futuristic cop whose mysteriously being undone by the very device he's used to prevent murders. Samantha Morton, Colin Farrell and Max van Sydow head a stellar supporting cast.
"Minority Report" is, of course, an action flick, with high speed chases, drama and excitement. But it is so much more raising as it does numerous issues of morality and ethics. It is also a fascinating prediction of the world of the future.
This DVD edition is replete with special features comprising a second disc. Those features include looks at the sets, costumes, stunts the development of the story (based on a Phillip K. Dick story) and those dazzling special effects. The special features will be of interest to all fans of "Minority Report" particularly those who are students of filmmaking.
A great film.
35 does not live up to the hype.
this was supposed to be a glimpse into a very possible future.i heard on an hbo special that the directer payed the top experts in almost every field to come to his house for the weekend to discuss the realities that will be in the future.the fields included automative,law enforcement,science,marketing etc.im having a hard time beliving this now.the whole point of this story has any basis in reality at all.there are these 3 psycic chicks who the government keeps in a tank.there only function is to send mental images into these computers that fortell future murders.the murder rate drops to 0 and the system is perfect.well one day tom cruise gets his name as a would be murderer and decides to buck the system.there is a child abduction/murder angle in this movie.i think it is unthinkable enough that this really happens.i think it is an abselute atrocity that moviemakers feel like they have to put that in movies.i watch movies for entertainment not to be reminded how sick and twisted this world really is.or two hours i could escape the harsh realities.then some jerk says hmmmm we could use any bad guy we want.lets use a child killer.that sucks!i would have rated this movie a 4,if not for that.steven spielsberg is your director.ill give him yet another award.the most overated directer of all time.this is his best work ever though.theres a lot of slow parts in it also.a lot of police detective type work and talk.there are a couple gross parts but if you dont mind watching a movie centered around a child killer youll be alright.when the bad guy is finaly met,a very intense scene goes on.i was right there.the main psycic chick would be sexy if she wasnt so damn wierd.tom cruise does a great job in this one.this is a very good movie all in all but the hype makes it sound better.this is tom cruises 2nd best movie.this movie drags on longer than most.
36 Do You Have One?
Minority Report definitely ranks as one of the best future-theme movies of all time. Although not as groundbreaking as The Matrix or visually stunning as Blade Runner, it has it's own pro's.
In a future where future crimes are predicted using triplets or 'Pre Cogs' with the ability to foresee events yet to come, the Police Officer in charge and support of the device himself (Tom Cruise) is accused of a murder that he has yet to commit. Though he believes that he is innocent, the squad doesn't, so Cruise sets out on his journey to find the truth.
The storyline for the movie is interesting, very thought provoking. A lot of what is talked about sounds complicated at first, but listening closely will reveal that they are really talking about the Minority Report of Cruise. Listen even more closely and you'll understand the entire movie, otherwise you will be lost.
Good actors playing good characters, impressive special effects, quality action, and a deepening plot - Minority Report is definitely worth the price of admission.
37 Awful Minority
I may be in the minority, but Minority Report is awful. Tom Cruise shines in actual human dramas like Jerry McGuire or Rainman, but this futuristic garbage, this futurramma cop is just a showcase of movie technology without a heart. Vanilla Sky had the same problem. Why should I care about these characters that are so zippy futuristic? Spielberg cannot get science fiction right unless it's for children. His best movie required no computer gyration, Shindler's List, but then again, that movie had a script. I was asleep by the time they put this morph in the water.
38 g xgj m
very good special effects, decent action, and a good story. pretty good extras, but no commentary.
39 Boring
I borrowed this movie because it looked good, but when i saw it im like what is this, I didnt like this movie at all the first 10 min is good but then its got boring rite after.
40 another blunder os Spierlberg
The movie it's very claustrophobic, with all that technology and commercial messages. Nothing seems to be normal in the one, those flashbacks of the son of Tom in the movie, the doctor operating him. And the fight in the car factory it's almost the same as in the "Star Wars: Episode 2".
Yack!
41 Wish I Could Give This Ten Stars
I am so glad my husband dragged me to see this movie. From the advertising, it did not look too interesting, although I love action and sci-fi. Minority Report is magnificent. One of the most original, thought-provoking, and entertaining movies to come along in twenty years. This is a true classic.
Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell are wonderful in their roles as Precrime Police, stopping crimes and charging "criminals" even though the crime has not taken place. The Precrime Police have three empaths who provide them with information. The empaths are suspended in water solution, and although they are not slaves, have never seen the outside world. One of the empaths is female. She is one of the most compelling characters, although she does not say much or get much screen time.
The last scene had a few women in the theater crying.
42 Another Spielberg success!
Tom Cruise is John Anderton, a cop in this futuristic thriller. Together with Burgess, they developed PreCrime, a state-run programme which utilises biological and technological advances to predict crimes even before they happen. Three "precogs" (human "mutants" with extraodinarily acute psychic-like abilities) are at the center of this technology. One day at the swimming pool, John's young son is abducted by a mysterious stranger, whom John has never been able to trace. Through a string of premeditated circumstances, John ends up killing a man who was responsible for abducting and (he assumed) killed his son. He gets put away, but that is not it. One of the "precogs" keeps having flashback memories of a woman getting killed, but nobody has been able to trace the killer. Eventually, (I don't want to spoil this for you!) justice is served :)
This movie is about the future, but it does make you think : what if one day we can all predict everything that's going to happen,and change them before they happen? Can that be a good thing? I think not. Life is full of choices and possibilities. Once these choices and possibilities are taken away from us, then really, why should we even bother to live it?
Premeditating the future is an interesting idea but imagine if someone told you you're gonna kill someone tomorrow. Given the right circumstances, you end up at the point where you are going to kill someone but haven't yet. If you recognise the fact that life is about choice, you know you can prove the prediction wrong by not killing. But if you do not recognise the fact that you can choose what you do and change what they predict about you, then you have really lost the plot - i.e. you'd be just a pawn in someone else's game.
Great sci-fi thriller. Very fast paced, very meaningful theme, you never really know what's gonna happen, and great special effects.
43 Better than I thought it
This movie is not science fiction the way I thought of science fiction. The movie is very suspenseful, and it's action packed. This movie is about a cop who is dealing with the loss of his son, but trying to be on top of his game in his field. He is a cop, who can pick out the clues of a crime BEFORE it happens, and stop that crime. That in itself is an interesting concept. When Anderton, becomes one of the criminals he is in the fight of his life!!! Watching this movie you are led to believe one person has framed Anderton, but then you will find out you are wrong. I was really into this movie, and if you don't have super high expectations, you will find this movie to be a really good one. I was very impressed. The precogs were a nice twist in the film. The other aspect of the movie that grabbed me was "choice". There is a certain part of the film where choice plays a huge part in the film. You can make the right choice, or you will make the wrong choice. How will that choice truly affect your life? I really liked that philosophical aspect of the film.
44 Minority Report (2002)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Cruise, Max Von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton.
Running Time: 140 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for violence and some language.
Steven Spielberg is perhaps the only director in the history of film who has the ability to extract almost every human emotion in all of his films, whether its true terror ("Jaws"), utter anguish and despair ("Schindler's List"), absolute awe ("Jurassic Park", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"), pride ("Saving Private Ryan"), laughter ("Hook"), and love ("E.T."). "Minority Report" is a film that promotes suspicion, and more importantly, how greed can deteriorate the soul.
In the year 2054, Tom Cruise stars as a prominent law enforcement agent who has the uncanny ability to envision murders and crimes before they are committed. Because of agents such as Cruise, the criminal justice system is impeccable and without failure, saving lives and putting those who endanger others into jail. With the tragic loss of his lover (Samantha Morton), John Anderton (Cruise) feels as though life can get no worse; until he becomes the subject of a pre-cognitive murder that he did not commit. With an FBI agent (Colin Farrell) only a step behind him, Anderton must come to realize why he has been framed, how he has become a suspect, and who the real killer is.
Cruise is dynamite as the heroic officer of "PreCrime", jumping from flying, hovering aircrafts (yes, it is 2004 for crying out loud) and blending a poignant, confounded ingredient to his character that not many others would have pulled off. Spielberg delivers his most authoritative picture since "Saving Private Ryan", enchanting the audience using superb special effects and a cerebral screenplay based off Philip K. Dick's brilliant short story. The film can often be superiorly confusing for those who do not follow all of the technological jargon, which may throw many viewers off. With that shoved aside, this latest Spielberg effort has a little bit of everything. Not a classic, but not a small, futuristic, step from it.
45 The Worst
There isn't a movie that is half as bad as this. Enough said.
46 Good blend of sci-fi and thriller
One of the things I've admired about Steven Spielberg is that he doesn't necessarily stick to the same genres that made him who he is today but when he returns to them he does so in a manner that is stylistically and creatively much different from his original attempts. Obviously the improvements in technology make this much more possible, but Spielberg, for all the special effects in a film like Minority Report, manages to keep the characters at the forefront and everything else in a supporting position.
A lot has been said and written about this film so I won't rehash old news, but here's what I thought made it an enjoyable viewing experience. First, it was completely believable. Even though it's set 50 years in the future, there's nothing so incredible or far-fetched to force a viewer to disrupt his/her suspension of disbelief. Enough familiar elements remain to think that this could be a logical future. Second, the story, originally a creation of Philip K. Dick, is very well done because it takes a complex situation and turns it on a very simple premise - what happens when you arrest people for crimes not yet committed and then discover that you yourself are a suspect? We've seen Cruise in this type of role before but now that he's getting a little older we're seeing him bring nuances to the role (i.e. the death of his character's son) that simply wouldn't work a few years ago. Lastly, the numerous plot twists, including what turns out to be at least two false endings by my count, keep you on the edge of your seat. Okay, it does drag the film's running time to well over the 2 hour mark, but it ties all the loose ends up very nicely and provides a satisfying ending.
If anyone recalls when Spielberg received the AFI Lifetime Award he mentioned that his directorial output was far less by a large margin from other recipients and he had to "get off his ass". With Minority Report (AND Catch Me If You Can AND A.I.) it looks like he's off to a pretty good start.
47 One of the Best Movies I've Seen In a While!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I first saw Minority Report, I knew I wanted to see it again. I really liked the beginning of the movie. The precogs were, in my opinion, the best characters in the movie, especially the brains of the three of them. If you like action and suspense and if you don't mind a little cursing, I recommend that you buy this movie. If you have young kids, you might want to wait a few years before letting them watch with you.
48 Spielberg goes cyberpunk
I'll skip summarizing the story of this film, as other Amazon reviewers have done that quite well. I'll just state that I only give 5 stars to a film that I'd want to watch again, that surprised and entertained me, and that held my attention and sucked me into its world. These are things Spielberg usually does quite well, but in this case "Minority Report" does not look or feel anything at all like a Spielberg film until the very final wrapup scenes post action.
First, the whole 2-1/2 hours is loaded with futuristic glimpses of a society whose technological fast forward has gone into hyperdrive. There are so many of these ideas put forth that if you'll blink you'll miss one or two---even if you're using your own eyes and not someone else's that you bought on the black market. Where many SF films insert two or three such ideas, and usually milk them for all they're worth, Spielberg's writers have so many that some just blink by the corner of your eye (again, whosever are in use).
The story is compelling, and so fast-paced you have to really pay close attention in several places or you'll lose track. For some viewers that may be a drawback, but I like a challenge. That pace does cover two or three plot holes, but it plays fair by also letting a couple of red herrings zoom by you too.
All in all the script is plausible and intelligent, a warning against surrendering one's civil rights. In fact, it does this so well that at film's end I found myself seriously questioning the fate of the Precrime Division in spite of its shortcomings. Spielberg is being subversive in this, and although his preaching is a bit heavy-handed as always, and even though the multiple endings of the various plot lines feel contrived and tacked on, the first 2 hrs 20 mins of the film are so incredibly compelling that I'll certainly be watching again to see how much I missed the first time through.
49 A Masterpiece!
At a time when movies think they have to choose between action and ideas, Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" is a triumph--a film that works on our minds and our emotions. It is a thriller and a human story, a movie of ideas that's also a whodunit. Here is a master filmmaker at the top of his form, working with a star, Tom Cruise, who generates complex human feelings even while playing an action hero.
I complained earlier this summer of awkward joins between live action and CGI; I felt the action sequences in "Spider-Man" looked too cartoonish, and that "Star Wars Episode II," by using computer effects to separate the human actors from the sets and CGI characters, felt disconnected and sterile. Now here is Spielberg using every trick in the book and matching them without seams, so that no matter how he's achieving his effects, the focus is always on the story and the characters.
The movie turns out to be eerily prescient, using the term "pre-crime" to describe stopping crimes before they happen; how could Spielberg have known the government would be using the same term this summer? In his film, inspired by but much expanded from a short story by Philip K. Dick, Tom Cruise is John Anderton, chief of the Department of Pre-Crime in the District of Columbia, where there has not been a murder in six years. Soon, it appears, there will be a murder--committed by Anderton himself.
The year is 2054. Futuristic skyscrapers coexist with the famous Washington monuments and houses from the 19th century. Anderton presides over an operation controlling three "Pre-Cogs," precognitive humans who drift in a flotation tank, their brain waves tapped by computers. They're able to pick up thoughts of premeditated murders and warn the cops, who swoop down and arrest the would-be perpetrators before the killings can take place.
Because this is Washington, any government operation that is high-profile and successful inspires jealousy. Anderton's superior, bureau director Burgess (Max von Sydow) takes pride in him, and shields him from bureaucrats like Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell), from the Justice Department. As the pre-crime strategy prepares to go national, Witwer seems to have doubts about its wisdom--or he is only jealous of its success?
Spielberg establishes these characters in a dazzling future world, created by art director Alex McDowell, that is so filled with details large and small that we stop trying to figure out everything and surrender with a sigh. Some of the details: a computer interface that floats in mid-air, manipulated by Cruise with the gestures of a symphony conductor; advertisements that crawl up the sides of walls and address you personally; cars that whisk around town on magnetic cushions; robotic "spiders" that can search a building in minutes by performing a retinal scan on everyone in it. "Blade Runner," also inspired by a Dick story, shows a future world in decay; "Minority Report" offers a more optimistic preview.
The plot centers on a rare glitch in the visions of the Pre-Cogs. Although "the Pre-Cogs are never wrong," we're told, "sometimes ... they disagree." The dissenting Pre-Cog is said to have filed a minority report, and in the case of Anderton the report is crucial, because otherwise he seems a certain candidate for arrest as a pre-criminal. Of course, if you could outsmart the Pre-Cog system, you would have committed the perfect crime ...
Finding himself the hunted instead of the hunter, Anderton teams up with Agatha (Samantha Morton), one of the Pre-Cogs, who seemed to be trying to warn him of his danger. Because she floats in a fluid tank, Agatha's muscles are weakened (have Pre-Cogs any rights of their own?) and Anderton has to half-drag her as they flee from the pre-crime police. One virtuoso sequence shows her foreseeing the immediate future and advising Anderton about what to do to elude what the cops are going to do next. The choreography, timing and wit of this sequence make it, all by itself, worth the price of admission.
But there are other stunning sequences. Consider a scene where the "spiders" search a rooming house, and Anderton tries to elude capture by immersing himself in a tub of ice water. This sequence begins with an overhead cross-section of the apartment building and several of its inhabitants, and you would swear it has to be done with a computer, but no: This is an actual physical set, and the elegant camera moves were elaborately choreographed. It's typical of Spielberg that, having devised this astonishing sequence, he propels it for dramatic purposes and doesn't simply exploit it to show off his cleverness. And watch the exquisite timing as one of the spiders, on its way out, senses something and pauses in mid-step.
Tom Cruise's Anderton is an example of how a star's power can be used to add more dimension to a character than the screenplay might supply. He compels us to worry about him, and even in implausible action sequences (like falls from dizzying heights) he distracts us by making us care about the logic of the chase, not the possibility of the stunt.
Samantha Morton's character (is "Agatha" a nod to Miss Christie?) has few words and seems exhausted and frightened most of the time, providing an eerie counterpoint for Anderton's man of action. There is poignancy in her helplessness, and Spielberg shows it in a virtuoso two-shot, as she hangs over Anderton's shoulder while their eyes search desperately in opposite directions. This shot has genuine mystery. It has to do with the composition and lighting and timing and breathing, and like the entire movie it furthers the cold, frightening hostility of the world Anderton finds himself in. The cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, who has worked with Spielberg before (not least on "Schindler's List"), is able to get an effect that's powerful and yet bafflingly simple.
The plot I will avoid discussing in detail. It is as ingenious as any film noir screenplay, and plays fair better than some. It's told with such clarity that we're always sure what Spielberg wants us to think, suspect and know. And although there is a surprise at the end, there is no cheating: The crime story holds water.
American movies are in the midst of a transition period. Some directors place their trust in technology. Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools. He makes "Minority Report" with the new technology; other directors seem to be trying to make their movies from it. This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill. A masterpiece!
50 The perfect complement to A.I.
I choose to view both of these films as related pairs. Indeed from a pure cinematic viewpoint they have a lot in common - the subtle lighting, the differing viewpoints, the pace of the story and a logical, satisfying conclusion. The future has never been portrayed more terrifyingly or more acutely. It is a world of instant analyis, lack of privacy and "buy me now" commerce.
But it is also a lot like ours - people's homes are still their retreat, parents still love children and in our desperate times we turn not to objects but to people, to relationships. Tom Cruise gives one of his best performances as the distraught father who gains a glimmer of hope that his stolen son is alive. The mutant children are absolutely remarkable in their actions. Colin Farrel's everyday cop does the job but who can forget Max Von Sydow's stately, arrogant performance as the evil genius who almost pulled it off? This one deserves top honors.
51 The perfect complement to A.I.
I choose to view both of these films as related pairs. Indeed form a pure cinematic viewpoint they have a lot in common - the subtle lighting, the differing viewpoints, the pace of the story and a logical, satisfying conclusion. The future has never been portrayed more terrifyingly or more acutely. It is a world of instant analyis, lack of privacy and "buy me now" commerce.
But it is also a lot like ours - people's homes are still their retreat, parents still love children and in our desperate times we turn not to objects but to people, to relationships. Tom Cruise gives one of his best performances as the distraught father who gains a glimmer of hope that his stolen son is alive. The mutant children are absolutely remarkable in their actions. Colin Farrel's everyday cop does the job but who can forget Max Von Sydow's stately, arrogant performance as the evil genius who almost pulled it off? This one deserves top honors.
52 classic
This movie succeeded everywhere that Spielburg's AI did not, and really got me excited about sci-fi again. I actually would not have rated Minority Report as highly the first time I saw it, but it only improved in subsequent viewings. This is really everything a movie should be. The story flows perfectly, Cruise fits the role, the action is ingenious, and the ideas presented activate the imagination rather than dulling it, like so many movies. 8/10
53 Not Much Substance. T.C.Great Actor but Movies Stink!
Till this day I cannot believe why people like his films.
I say this because his works simply just stink; even though,
frankly he is a great actor. This story is just lame; "Minority Report" is no good at all. I thought
the plot would have more bad guys, but to find out that the whole
ring leader to Minority Report was an Old Man is truly a let
down.
I thought it would be a band of young guys-intellectuals
who really had a different vision of the world-Earth whom would
put in a New Order to things. Steven Spielberg directed this
garbage and who ever wrote the story really lacks content in his or her story writing.
I am not being negative, but as a fan one actually expects great films with great messages in the end. This being a Sci-Fi picture
really failed in My Beautiful Imagination.
I wish Minority Report was like in a way like John Carpenters Ghosts of Mars.
What this movie needed was the following:
1. Great love scenes with his female co-star: had none.
2. Better plot: Had none.
3. Who was really the bad guy in this movie: An old man, just one old man: disgusting. That old man was in RoboCop, some old movie from the 20th Century with Peter Weller.
T.C.(Tom Cruise) needs to really focus on his choosing of better stories that have violence, and detail to the problem and how the character solves the problem in the end and defeats the bad guys.
Tom Cruise doing an "In Hell" like Van Damme would be great.
Tom Cruise doing and being in a horror film picture would to
be great.
To bad Tom Cruise was not in Traffic with Erika Christensen, it would have been nice.
Whoever chooses his stories really is doing a bad job. I also never liked Top Gun, that was just no good.
I've have seen him in talk shows and on the Jay Leno show and the guy is so friendly, and i admit he can act, but the stories he is doing simply are just washed up.
T.C. is simply Stanley Cup material, but the cup is not yet in his grasp(motion picture wise nor Academy Award wise).
Final note: Minority Report may have a cool movie poster, but movie simply is a total let down.
I do not recommend Minority Report:"BLAND."
My whole vision of minority report was the issue of tom cruise battaling future ku klux klan phd guys who were into cloning and whom wanted a new world and whom wanted to get rid of minorities-that was my true vision of minority report.
54 Read the actual story - it's VERY different!
The movie version of Minority Report starred Tom Cruise and came out in 2002. There are many changes here vs the original story. The most obvious one is that they COMPLETELY removed the entire main premise of the story, that there are changes to the time continuum based on Anderton learning of what is going to happen. Instead, they turn the story around so there is actually NO minority report - that all 3 versions of Anderton's future are the same, having him kill Leopold. The new premise of the movie is that the future is *uncertain* - where the book had the precogs seeing the reality of a set future.
In the movie, Anderton isn't an older, almost obsolete cop. He's a young, slick hotshot. Witwer isn't a newcomer looking to horn in on Anderton's turf. Witwer is an 'oversight' individual coming to judge the system. So the entire main emotion path of Anderton 'becoming obsolete' vs the army 'becoming obsolete' is completely gone.
Anderton is set up to commit a murder by his boss. He has 72 hours to figure out why he would murder this stranger and evades his own friends to do so. Security is run on eyeball recognition so he has his eyeballs yanked out and puts in new ones. He grabs the minority reporter and escapes with her to find out what she saw, thinking this will clear him of the murder charge. But actually she saw the same thing the others did - there IS no minority report. While he has her, though, he learns that her mother was killed in a devious way by Anderton's boss. The boss wanted to prevent the mother from taking the precog back and ruining the precrime setup. Anderton exercises free will and doesn't kill the guy he was supposed to, even though things are very plainly set up to say that this guy was responsible for kidnapping Anderton's son.
Then it's a race to have Anderton prove that his boss was responsible for the murder of the mom and for getting away with it by manipulating the precog's vision of it. At the end, they let out of jail every person ever accused of a precrime, since they feel that free will MIGHT have had some of those people change their mind at the last moment.
My Notes -
This was a great action-thriller and since Anderton is a police commissioner, he does indeed have the 'spy-like' qualities that Tom Cruise shows. His character isn't a scientist or 'everydayman' like some of the other Philip K Dick stories. So the entire movie was made into an action-thriller featuring that main character, but they *bastardized* the entire story to get to that point. Where Imposter was a great version of the original story and people didn't like it, Minority Report was an AWFUL version of the original story and people loved it.
First off, Anderton was supposed to be an aging, balding, "obsolete" character. That was part of the main motivation here, his feeling of obsolescence and the army's feeling of obsolescence. All of that is gone. Instead, Anderton is a young, slick druggie who pines for his lost son (an invention). The precogs are sexy, naked adults instead of 'retarded' kid-like monstrosities.
The whole point of the original story was that knowledge of a future has the potential to allow you *change* that future which is equally recorded by a precog. The precogs were NOT wrong. They were each accurately recording their version of the future. The end of the story has the precrime system still in place. In comparison, the whole point of the movie was that the precogs COULD be wrong and people had free will. Humans COULD do things other than what the future did hold. And the end result is that the system collapses.
Not only that, but the movie has huge plot holes as a result of this wild change to the storyline. First off, Leopold is set up to appear to be the child molestor by Anderton's boss. Why? If the system is working perfectly, and it's about to go nation-wide, why would the boss want to put anything in to risk it? Nobody is going to realize he killed the mom, that's ancient news. Next, Anderton gets all these clues about a minority report, and the girl's testimony on his case is missing. But why? She did NOT have a minority report. She saw the same things the others saw! So it should have been on the tape, he should never have stolen her away and therefore never learned that the girl had other minority reports in her past.
I especially didn't like the scene in Anderton's house where the precog goes on a long monologue about what Anderton's son would have been like growing up, had he not been abducted and killed by a child molestor. Just what was the point of that? Is the precog now an Ouija board too, communicating with the dead? The whole anguish over the dead son was not in the original story and added to the emotion level, but again detracted from the actual sequence of events and meaning behind them.
It was a Happy Ending that Anderton and his wife end up together again, with her pregnant again. But the whole Hollywood Happy Ending with that and the system being shut down is the complete opposite of what the story was trying to tell us - and the fact that Hollywood says "free will triumphs!" also misses the point.
It's like making the movie version of Star Wars and having the Empire win in the end. Either you do a movie form of the book, or you do a movie without any reference to the book. But why claim it's based on the book when the entire plot is the opposite of what the book said? And why lose the entire plot twist and base plot line that made the story so fascinating? Did they think the movie watching audience was too dumb to understand how timelines would affect each other?
I loved the movie *as a story*. But as The Minority Report, it failed.
55 Your Future Is Whatever You Make It
The idea that murderers could be stopped and convicted before they even commit the act probably sounds very reassuring and even beneficial to many people. After all, countless lives will be saved and people's lives won't be shattered by the pointless killings that occur every day in this country. There is one small flaw though; someone may be planning murder, but at the last minute will call off the attack. That does not make them right, but it doesn't make them wrong either. Also, no proof exists except the thoughts of the person themself, thereby sending the old adage of innocent until proven guilty to heck.
Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, the chief of police in the new Pre-Crime Unit. Through the help of three "Pre-Cogs" who can see murders before they happen, Anderton and his team apprehend the murderer before the act takes place. Currently, the system only exists in Washington, D.C. but there will soon be a vote to take it national. About a week before the vote is to take place, a young agent from the Justice Department, played by Colin Farrel, arrives to investigate the Pre-Crime Unit to make sure that there can never be any mistakes. Anderton believes that he is after his job, especially when the Pre-Cogs predict that, within 72 hours, Anderton will kill a man that he has never even heard of. Now, Anderton is on the run from his old friends, and he has do to everything that he can to stay away from the authorities.
Pretty much every aspect of this film is good. The story is phenominal, the stunts and effects are amazing, and the acting is great. I think that the only problem is that it starts to drag on a bit toward the end, but the unexpected ending is definitely worth the wait. This movie will make you think while simultaneously visually pleasing you.
56 Spielberg's Minority Report is destined to be a classic.....
Steven Spielberg's 2002 Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, and Max Von Sidow, is a surprisingly engrossing science fiction/mystery/action film set in a future not very far away. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick (whose works have inspired such sci fi noir films as Ridley Scott's Bladerunner and Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall), Minority Report is one of those rare action movies that engages the mind while giving the audience an exciting "race the clock" chase in a futuristic Washington, D.C.
It is the year 2054, and the Nation's capital has been rendered homicide-free by an experimental police unit called the Precrime Department. Since 2048, the year Lamar Burgess (Von Sidow) and Dr. Iris Hineman (Lois Smith) discovered that a trio of psychically gifted children could see murders before they were committed, Burgess has been the head of Precrime, and with the skills of career cops like John Anderton (Cruise), the murder rate in Washington has dropped to nearly zero. Now, Burgess is on the verge of getting his vision of Precrime as a nation-wide entity. After all, with the Precogs (as the trio of psychics is known), advanced surveilance technology, and a team of well-trained and motivated cops, murderers -- even crime-of-passion ones -- can be arrested and put behind bars and their would-be victims saved from shootings, stabbings, and drownings. It is a flawless system, and with crime at an all-time high in the U.S., Precrime seems to be the perfect solution.
But as Anderton soon discovers, the Precrime concept is not without flaws...and the audience will also see that the relatively young and dedicated Precrime chief has his own weak spots. His zeal for his job is fueled by the disappearance and apparent death of his son Sean, but that family tragedy has led to Anderton's use of drugs and a separation from his wife Lara (Kathryn Morris). And just as Precrime is about to go nationwide, he not only has to deal with the unwelcome presence of FBI agent Danny Witwer (Farrell), he suddenly finds himself on the run when the Precogs pre-visualize Anderton committing a murder -- 36 hours in the future.
Spielberg, working from a screenplay by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, has made one of his best films in recent years. He gives the audience a plausible vision of a future America where eye-scans (called "eye-dents") allow stores like The Gap (yes, there will still be malls and stores 50 years from now) to keep track of past purchases and give recommendations on future buys (sounds like the personalized stores on Amland), air cars and jet packs give cops unprecedented mobility, and lives can be saved by the combination of mind-powers and law enforcement. And even though Minority Report is also a cautionary tale of the abuse of power, the corrosive effects of grief and revenge, Spielberg's themes of hope and love shine through in this riveting and sometimes chilling sci-fi/noir film. Like Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Minority Report is destined to be a classic of the genre.
57 Exciting, Interesting, and Original
This is the best movie that takes place in the future of the last 10 years. It's original, well thought out, and just really really good. The special features are worth a look and you can watch it again and again. It's in my collection, it should be in yours.
58 The Chase is Excellent but the Ending is not
Sci-Fi thrillers are always good to watch. Speilberg gives us a real treat and this is certainly one of Speilberg's darkest films to date. Minority Report has more in common with Schindler's List and Blade Runner than it does with Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Jurassic Park. This is new ground for Spielberg and having bombed with A.I. it is certainly a better direction for him to move in.
Tom Cruise is at the helm of this futuristic crime busting lab that is able to predict serious felonies before they happen by way of three psychics that are hooked into the system. His display of manipulating their imagination and dreams among a big glass digital screen is almost done with the same wizardry that Speilberg edits his own films. Speilberg's thoughts are on form in Minority Report and most of the movie is big and wild in a vast dreamscape. Speilberg does not leave it at that though. He manages to actually hunk in a tense action thriller full of suspense about a man on the run from his own system. It is also full of brains and creative imagery. Who can forget Cruise chasing his own eyes as they roll down the hall? "What!" you say? Yes, Speilberg has gone a bit loco here and it pays off in aces.
Who can also forget the performance of Colin Farrell who actually manages to convincingly try to outperform Cruise on the screen, even though this is one of his first mainstream films. This flick is as much Farrell's as it Cruise's and boy does he make sure of that.
I will not spoil the plot but it has something to do with Cruise predicting his own felony which involves a homicide of man who may have kidnapped and murdered his son. Speilberg cues lots of actions, sci-fi extraordinaires, genuine detective work and throws in a who dunnit' to cap it all off. Make no mistake about it. Minority Report is a fast fury of unstoppable set pieces to boot.
Unfortunately Speilberg does not deliver on the last fifth of the film. Here he goes for double-jeopardy when maybe he should have just stayed put. The extra fifteen minutes tries to turn the chase on the bad guys instead and unfortunately never lives up to what the first 2 hours of magic gave us. In fact it is cheesy and out of kilter with the rest of the film. It feels a bit contrived and certainly is devoid of the suspense that we witnessed throughout this great sci-fi fest. What does it end up doing? You come away feeling that you should have left fifteen minutes ago. It was such a shame to have been on the edge of your seat for most of it only now to be sitting there gawking at your watch and wondering if you are looking at a reel from another movie that projectionist tagged on by accident.
When all is said and done the movie is inescapable enchantment but is marred by a terrible ending whatever way you look at it and it does lower the quality of this fine film considerably.
59 The Moose Hole - Praise Not in the 'Minority'
The first collaboration between superstar actor Tom Cruise and famed director Steven Spielberg seems to be a film of redemption. Both had trouble with their last picture with Tom Cruise's Vanilla Sky not meeting expectations and Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence tanking after a decent opening weekend. Whether this is the case or not, both Spielberg and Cruise had read the short story by Phillip K. Dick and did everything in their power to bring the story to life on the big screen. With such a stellar combination and huge marketing buzz to boast, can anything stop this film from breaking the box office bank? How about a little alien? Surprisingly Spielberg and Cruise's dream child may get upset by a genre of film many believed to be on the oust but only long-term time will tell. For now, Minority Report goes head to head with Disney's Lilo & Stitch in a weekend period many thought would be the calm before the Independence Day storm.
The story centers on a man who works for the division of pre-crime for the city of Washington D.C. The division of pre-crime is centered on the visions of the three Pre-Cogs, psychics of sorts that predict murders before they take place. It is up to the cop-like pre-crime division team led by Detective John Anderton to stop these acts before the present catches up with the future. And so far it has proven its worth with the absence of murderous acts in the nation's capitol for over six years. But when a hot shot federal agent comes in to take control of the pre-crime department at a time when the nation will vote on whether pre-crime should be allowed, Detective Anderton begins to notice flaws in the system. When he seen in a vision murdering a man he had never met before, he must find a way to change his future in less then 36 hours. The story for Minority Report is probably one of the best that has come from Hollywood in quite some time and we wouldn't expect less from Steven Spielberg. The plot is very intelligent and proves that the summer doesn't have to be just brain-dead, blow `em up action flicks. The biggest surprise comes from the balanced flow of the film considering this was based on a short story.
The cast for Minority Report is put together exceedingly well. Tom Cruise has what could be another Oscar worthy performance as Detective John Anderton. Will he get nominated? Not likely since the movie is opening too far ahead of the nominating process but it doesn't he can't be recognized for it. Cruise expresses a wide range of emotions throughout the picture and fits perfectly into the role. Colin Farrell does a pretty good job in the role of Detective Ed Witwer. The only problem is the way his character is killed off near the end of the picture. It is kind of insulting to the character but this isn't a complaint towards Farrell's performance, just toward the story. And Max Von Sydow gives an absolutely wonderful performance as Director Burgess and works well with Tom Cruise all the way to the very end.
Overall, Minority Report keeps the audience guessing and running out breath all the way to the very end. The film is definitely the best suspense thriller in summer 2002 if not the best film of the year. Spielberg truly makes up for the mistakes he made in A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Tom Cruise proves to many disbelievers that he can take on such a difficult project with one of the best directors of all time. Though the film is well put together, there are some things to pick at. That would include the film's 2 hour and 25 minute time length, which seemed too long. Portions of the film seemed to really drag especially as the picture neared the end and could have been cut. Another complaint doesn't exactly involve anything that could have been done but the whole thing with Tom Cruise's eyes seemed too much at times. Some of the jokes involving the eyes got a little annoying and could have been left out of the final print. In the end, though, Minority Report achieves everything it was meant to and more. This could definitely be one of the more mature films of the year and works exceedingly well with that.
60 Worth your time
Most of us don't have a lot of time to throw away so it's especially important to not waste what we have on bad films. This movie makes you feel, which is what makes it worth watching, particularly if you are a parent. If you watch it you'll see what I mean.
61 All special effects, poor storyline, poor movie
Rent if you must but don't waste your money on buying this one. The story is lame. Special effects are sooo unrealistic.
Very disappointed.
62 Return to Form
The malicious sense of visceral fun and gallows humor that made Steven Speilberg's JAWS so irresistible have miraculously returned to the director after productive stints in World War II films and gentle fables. MINORITY REPORT is his best film in years, retaining the chilly futurism of AI while injecting it with a feverish energy that recalls the INDIANA JONES films. And its obsession with issues of guilt and security give it a distinctly post-9/11 sensibility. Although it's a bit long and contains one false ending too many, its sense of pace and devotion to ghoulish subplots and effects keep things humming. Speilberg's star, Tom Cruise, has been stripped of all mannerisms and affectations. His is an engaging, surprisingly moving performance. It is rare to find a film that gracefully (and somewhat effortlessly) balances action and thought, violence and meditation, adventure and philosophy. MINORITY REPORT is such a film.
63 One of the best screen adaptations of Philip K. Dick
The famously talented and crazy Philip K. Dick was sort of an SF Kafka. He was a writer of great power and great paranoia, who used both to question the nature of humanity and of reality itself.
It's bloody hard to adapt his stories to the screen, but there have been at least two adaptations that have been wildly successful as movies in their own right: Ridley Scott's _Blade Runner_ and Paul Verhoeven's _Total Recall_. I also think well of Christian Duguay's _Screamers_, although it's not of the quality (or budget) of the other two.
I've liked Tom Cruise since about 1988 or so. Before that, he seemed to be stuck playing slick, self-absorbed prettyboy hustlers. As of the excellent _Rain Man_, though, he seemed to be stretching himself, and as of _A Few Good Men_ I was persuaded that the guy had serious acting chops. He's continued since that time with a string of good movies, most of which I've enjoyed. (I especially liked _Vanilla Sky_, a remake of the excellent _Abre los Ojos_. If you've seen one, be sure to see the other sometime.)
I've also liked several (though not all) of Steven Spielberg's films. He's a talented director.
But I would never, never, never have thought that either one of these guys, let alone _both_ of them, would be involved in a screen adaptation of a Phil Dick short story. Nor would I have predicted that the result of such involvement would be anywhere near as successful as this one is.
_Minority Report_ is one of the finest Dick adaptations I've seen. It's very nearly of the quality of _Blade Runner_.
(I don't mean that it's necessarily a good translation-to-the-screen of the original story itself. Dick's original stories are all but unfilmable, and to be done 'right' they'd require an approach more like David Cronenberg's in _Naked Lunch_. I mean that it's an excellent motion picture on its own terms that successfully carries over some of the most important 'Dickian' themes and elements.)
The cinematography alone is nothing short of mesmerizing. If you like, you can turn down the sound and just _watch the pretty pictures_ for two and a half hours. Every frame is an artfully constructed composition, some of them in colors that may never have existed before.
The script is excellent. As I'm sure you know, Cruise plays John Anderton, the head of Washington, D.C.'s experimental Precrime Unit, which uses three precognitives ('precogs') to arrest people for crimes they were _about_ to commit. The script doesn't duck the metaphysical problems with this approach but indeed faces them head-on; that's a large part of both the point and the plot.
The cast is also excellent (especially Samantha Morton and Max von Sydow). Even John Williams (of whom I am not normally a huge fan) does a nice job providing a suitable score.
I won't tell you anything more on the off-chance that you haven't seen it yet. I'll just say that the thing stays on target all the way through and that some parts of it will haunt your nightmares forever afterward.
Naturally the film owes a great deal to _Blade Runner_ for its overall mood, but it's also heavily indebted to Stanley Kubrick's screen adaptation of Anthony Burgess's _A Clockwork Orange_. (I assume there are other viewers out there who caught the significance of the fact that von Sydow's character is named 'Burgess'. If you have Kubrick's film on DVD, pause the newspaper-clipping portion and read the names.)
_Very_ nicely executed. I don't normally review films that already have umpty-hundred reviews, but for this one I'm making an exception. If you like Dick and/or chilling near-future-dystopian SF films, you'll like this one even if you expect not to.
64 Long and dull
What has happened to Steven Spielberg? Ever since he 'went serious' he's produced pretentious, bloated and strangely vapid films like this. The plot is ridiculous. There is a simply horrid scene with a Russian doctor and nurse with a giant mole... I mean c'mon why focus on the giant mole? Is this what watching too much Kubrick does to otherwise competent directors??? To think this guy once made Indiana Jones.
Spielberg is a one-dimensional and not particularly artistic director, he should not endeavour to make 'edgier' films because the result is stuff like this, neither edgy nor entertaining, just self-involved, overlong and ultimately, boring, which cinematically speaking, is just about the worst crime you could commit.
65 This is one of the best films ever
This is a great film. Tom Cruise and Colin Farrel are awsome. The plot takes a few times watching to fully understand, but is very ingenious. The movie presents some very accurate ideas of the future and the story has nothing that would make absolutely no sense or just couldn't happen. The special effects are so real. The action is just awsome. Some really neat special features. Nobody hates this movie.
66 Spielberg effortlessly merges Disney and sci-fi
I put off seeing this movie for a while, simply because the prospect of having to simultaneously stomach the creative endeavors of Tom Cruise AND Steven Spielberg was just too much for me to handle. However, it turned out to be "not that bad." That phrase can be attributed to far too many Spielberg flicks these days.
"Not that bad." Because, I mean, it was quite entertaining. If anything, Spielberg has his plot arcs down pat. The idea was inspired. The eventual "uncovering of the truth" that accompanies most of his sci-fi films was well-paced, and the surprises are good.
The plot details, as well as the characters' backstories and motivations, weren't quite as good. There are scenes where a character will expound upon something for several minutes and then do the antithesis of what they would be expected to do after such a speech. No explanation is given as to why random strangers and even bitter enemies help out our brave protagonist along the way. I don't mind having to do a little brainwork while watching a movie-- in fact, I prefer it. But this isn't clever writing-- this is confused writing, and plenty of it. In a way, it sort of reminds me of the Matrix trilogy, with people randomly walking around saying and doing random stuff and the screenwriters pretending to have a reason for it all.
And what's with Spielberg's vision of the future? The way he portrayed consumerism and the internet seemed believable (and actually kind of neat, although the subsequent loss of privacy was eerie), but everything else? Sick sticks? Seemingly unlimited prison space for people who haven't even committed crimes yet? A city even receiving the jurisdiction from the federal government to hold these people in indefinite stasis? Gap pants that actually fit? Give me a break and pass me some of those optimism pills, Steve.
What this movie is perhaps striving to be is a rehash of the old sci-fi standby: put not all your trust in things you don't understand, whether it be machines or psychic little girls or the justice system.
So, yes. Tom Cruise looks like a bona fide hero (hey, it doesn't happen that often anymore). Samantha Morton is hot, even when she's bald. And for all my complaining, it's probably worth a rental. You may not be inspired to ask yourself deep questions about crime, destiny, or privacy, but by gum, something in this movie is sure to compensate you for your time.
67 A report to keep you in constant suspense
This Sci-fi Mystery/Action film is a remake that could be done by no other than Speilburg himself. This helped to reintrouduce a movie that was once popular in the 70's to a younger generation such as myself with a few added twists and plots. Tom Cruise did a very good job playing this role and making it exactly what it should be. The plot and action was very well done and the whole concept of stoping future crimes and events just play with your thoughts a bit about the real future and where we will be. I got the Dvd as a gift but I would have no regrets buying it. Anyone still haing doubts should rent it and see but no need for extra hassle ........Just get it!
68 Has Speilberg Made A Great SF Film?
Almost. It's got flaws, like any other film, but it's still fun to watch. In fact, it's fun to watch more than once. More importantly: the screenplay is intelligent and all the filmmakers involved contributed to a massive effort to keep the cheese factor to a minimum. Even the special features are good, especially the 30 minute documentary including a good sit down interview with Speilberg and Cruise together. The truth is great SF films are so tortuously rare that any SF enthusiast is happy when even a mildly good one comes along. Speilberg has been chasing an elusive accomplishment for most of his career: a truely great contribution to SF cinema that will still be admired generations from now alongside Kubrick's '2001: A SPace Oddyssey'. Has he finally done it with Minority Report? Not quite. But I'm grateful beyond words that he keeps trying.
For more films based on stories by Philip K. Dick see Blade Runner, Imposter, Total Recall, and the upcoming Paycheck. Better yet: just buy some of his books and enjoy. Start with his short fiction. His novels may be a bit much for the uninitiated.
69 This is Hell of a movie
Dude this is the coolest movie ever Tom Cruse is great in it and dude this is one dark ass film I mean it doesnt really even have a happy ending but the action and plot is good. So Rent it see if it's good for the kids my opinion is 14 or 15 and up condiderng it has a grousome for a PG13 eye removal and more violent than much and a theem of Rape of a small child
70 Sucks....
one of the most stupid movies i have ever seen and i used to work for blockbuster INC.....
71 Good Basic SciFi Movie
I liked this film, I bought the dvd and I don't have a large dvd collection. However, there are a lot of cliches in this film. Some of the major cliches:
#1: the cop who has experienced the murder of a family member
#2: the corruption comes from the top down
#3: the future is a place where nobody has any privacy
#4: the scientist is eccentric
#5: the love interest is pretty, yet bland and uninteresting
So why did I buy this dvd? Tom Cruise gives a great performance as the tormented yet cocky cop who is framed for murder and learns to doubt the justice system he once had absolute confidence in. The movie also has a lot of exciting chase scenes, scenes of cathartic violence, humor to lighten the dark places, some emotional, tearjerking moments, and great special effects. Speilberg has created an intriguing little world here and I enjoyed visiting it for a couple of hours. The supporting cast members also gave memorable performances.
This film reminds me a lot of another favorite film: "Twelve Monkeys" with Bruce Willis and Madeline Stowe. And yet, "Minority Report" lacks the off-the-wall creativity, the depth, and the overall dark poignancy of "Twelve Monkeys" because Speilberg doesn't like to take too many chances.
72 Couldn't bear to watch this rubbish for more than 30 minutes
Sure the acting was nice, the effects awesome, but this was one boring movie (that's just from a visceral point of view w/o any specifics). One major gripe of mine is that this movie tried being metaphysical in terms of predestination and intellectual time travel. No matter how carefully you craft your plot and script, there's bound to be gaps too big to fill in a couple hours. So if the metaphysics is a deal breaker and there's no other action elsewhere, there's no point watching this waste of celluloid.
73 Among Spielberg's best; compelling vision of the future
Given all the hype around Steven Spielberg's disappointing previous outing, "AI," (which was perhaps overhyped because of the untimely death of collaborator Stanley Kubrick) I was skeptical about "Minority Report." It seemed to be mining the same vein.
What a pleasant surprise. This is a great movie. It artfully combines intelligence and suspense and paints a compelling view of the future. I even enjoyed Tom Cruise's performance. He hasn't been this good since "Jerry Maguire."
I have to say that some of the stuff you see here - like personalized advertising that kicks in when the technology scans your retinas as you walk into a store (as frightening as that sounds) - sounds completely plausible to me. It's masterfully presented by Spielberg in such a way that its eventual adpotion in 'real life' looks like a done deal.
An unexpected delight here: prolific Swedish character actor Peter Stormare's turn as the creepy, back-alley, eyeball-replacing Dr. Solomon Eddie. Check out his great 2000 twosome as the loathsome 'Serge' in "Chocolat" and the shy, sweet-hearted 'Jeff,' Bjork's diffident suitor in Lars von Trier's bleak "Dancer in the Dark."
74 Just one small problem...
...and I suppose this problem isn't specific to Minority Report, but rather to every film in which the concepts of predicting the future, and changing the future, co-exist.
The problem is this: The processes which 'precogs' use to see future events are done so with the assumption that these future events are predetermined, YET the premise of the film is built on the assumption that future events are NOT predetermined.
75 Spielberg is a hack (reason #2)
It only gets worse. The film is barely watchable since everything is in a cheap bluish hue. It's the future man, get it? Crime is bad so we can predict when it will happen and bust yo tail down! Get it?? Tom Cruise has a baby (and loses him) by natural means. Get IT??? Robo-spiders examine your eyeballs to see if you are an outlaw! Get IT???? Me neither.
76 Should we give up freedom to fight crime? No!
There is an incredible amount of insight that went into this movie. Everyone likes the idea of fighting crime: politicians get re-elected fighting it; police receive praise for attacking it at every nook and corner; citizens feel safer when, as a society, we are defeating it.
Given this context, what would happen if a politician were to endorse the idea of locking up criminals before they engange in their criminal acts? It sounds good: after all, aren't they likely to engange in the act if they are locked up?
Forget the issue as to whether such acts are constitutional (they clearly they are not), the question is, is it good policy? Dick points to the idea that it clearly isn't, and that while it may seem like a good idea to completely eradicate crime, the practice of doing so would clearly create far more harm than good.
For instance, if we label someone as extremely likely to engange in the act and arrest them before they committ it, we are saying that people essentially have no free-will and we eliminate the possibility that they may change their thinking before they engange in the behavior. What we would be doing is, in a sense, locking people up for poor thoughts--no--dangerous thoughts.
This is an important lesson for all those closet utopians who believe that an intellectual can come up with an idea and cure all of society's ills. This book clearly errs in being skeptical of those in power who would sacrifice our freedom in the name of temporary security. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for temporal safety deserve neither to be safe or free."
Michael Gordon
77 An Intelligent Thriller With Big Budget Fun!
It seems contradictory to use the words "blockbuster movie" and "intelligent story" in the same sentence, mostly because the big budget movies that fill the summer season's screens lack any kind of real depth and instead feature dazzling special effects and characters that are dazzling, but completely unbelievable. So it is interesting to note that, while "Minority Report" dazzles the audience with a future that is slick, cold and high-tech, it also delivers a story that is engaging, challenging and even thought-provoking.
Set in the year 2054, "Minority Report" is the story of a new form of law enforcement, an agency called "Pre-Crime" that uses pre-cognative telepaths to hone in on murder victims and murderers before the actual crime takes place. By forseeing the future, these officers can prevent murders from occurring. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) heads up this department until the pre-cognatives have a vision that depicts Anderton committing the act of murder.
Anderton, confused by the vision, and desperate to clear his name, runs and goes into hiding until he can figure out the meaning of a vision that one of the precognatives shares with him that somehow has to do with his own future actions.
Confused?
I was too, initially. The movie, which is far more intricate than my synopsis above suggests, is not a film to be viewed casually. If you are looking for mindless entertainment, this is not the film for you. Instead, this film builds layer upon layer, with complex and interesting dialogue between completely developed and believable characters.
Anderton, who became an officer of "Pre-Crime" did so because his son was abducted from him, and much of the story surrounds not only the physical events that are occuring to him, but also the emotional impact and ramifications that one, single event had, and how it changed him for
