Customer Reviews

Minority Report (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(287)
4 star:		(186)
3 star:		(89)
2 star:		(54)
1 star:		(51)

 

 

This is a review of the BD version of the film. I am sure most reading know the atory, so I won't get into all of that, though it must be said it is a chliing. exciting, and brilliant vision of the future down to its details. I have seen a couple of reviews that note the issue of "grain" on the image. Here's the deal with that...the grain is supposed to be there. The most common misconception about bluray is that it offers a more enhanced and retouched version of a film. High Definition lets you see the film as it was intended by the filmmakers. Mostb SD DVD has been treated with something called Digital Noise Reduction (DNR). This wipes the image so that it is smooth and waxy. It also distorts the colors, textures, and the original artistic vision. Bluray provides deeper colors, blacks, eliminates edge enhancement, halos, and other issues. Minority Report is intended and was shot to have a gritty feel, hence the grain. This is how the film is supposed to look. It has a kind of washed out, skip bleached look with lots of swirling film grain. This creates an emotional impact that informs the story and the characters. This movie looks fabulous. The grain renders the fine details and textures much harder to see in 480i. 1080p allows us to see it as it looked in the editing bay. Colors are fully accurate and resolved. Blacks are inky and detail is gorgeous, making the special effects all the more dazzling. This transfer was closely supervised and approved by Spielberg. It is the best this film will ever look and the HD DTS soundtrack is tight, robust and exciting. This is one of the films I have been waiting to see in this format and it exceeded my expectations.

I probably would have waited until Minority Report hit the rental stands if it weren't for all the five-star ratings critics have been giving this movie. After being digitally assaulted by the current crop of high-budget special effects films like Spiderman and Attack of the Clones, I was already weary of acting and storyline taking a backseat to gee-whiz computer graphics. I underestimated Spielberg's ability.

So what is the plot exactly? Well, dear reader, take comfort in knowing I will not spoil the movie for you. In the year 2054, Americans are subjected to Gap clothing stores (that scan your retina and hard-sell khakis by your name) as well as USA Today newspapers with animated front page covers that update in real-time. Tom Cruise is John Anderton, Washington D.C.'s top-cop in the experimental pre-crime unit that seeks out and eliminates would-be murderers through the use of precognitive beings that are able to sense murders shortly before they happen. The premise sounds wonderful until John discovers he's about to murder someone he has never met. This is the story on the surface yet it is not the story. I fear many will avoid this movie because this is all they will expect. I will stump for this movie because it's not just an action-thriller and it's not just a thinking-man's science-fiction movie. What lies beneath the story is much deeper and darker.

You see, even in knowing the future, Mr. Anderton is confronted with an awful dilemma. How can he prevent himself from killing the person he is supposed to murder if he has never seen the person he is supposed to kill or the location the murder is supposed to take place? Is the future preordained or does man create his own destiny? As Anderton uncovers the answers to these questions, viewers will find that this is not the underlying story either.

Minority Report is a dark and disturbing vision of the future made believable with Cruise's much more human characterization of Anderton than his previous Mission Impossible persona. Samantha Morton, Colin Farrell, and the incomparable Max von Sydow all serve to effectively help and hinder Anderton's quest. Are there flaws in the movie? Perhaps. The action scenes are impressive and appropriate, but one particular scene in the LEXUS factory contained so much eyeball-jarring camera manipulation that I felt I was hit by a "sick stick." And speaking of brand-names, reviewers complain of the blatant commercialization of the movie. Without question, an obscene amount of advertising permeates almost every frame. Did Spielberg sell out to the highest bidder or is he making a statement about the not-so-distant future, or even the present? I'll let you decide. Finally, the fact this movie received a PG-13 rating is a statement in itself. I remember all the controversy generated by parent-groups when Poltergeist received a PG rating. It seems so long ago...

Yet credit must go to Steven Spielberg as there was much of this movie that could've been done ineffectively. After the disappointing box-office numbers of A.I., many (including myself) were expecting a dumbed-down formulaic hack to swing alongside the rest of the massives. Instead, Spielberg shows he's master of the technology as the impressive display of visuals serve to add to, not overwhelm the story. By the time the movie ends, you may find yourself pondering the kind of questions only philosophers argued over.

This is a movie that I was unfortunately unable to see at the theaters and regretted it then and even more so now, seeing how great a movie it is. You can normally expect a Steven Spielberg film to contain; stunning imagery, intense suspense and an overly enthralling film, which he delivers perfectly in this film. Minority Report is an absolutely riveting film that will have you going from the moment the film starts to the very last second. Tom Cruise's more recent films really haven't really lived up to expectations, not so in this film. He seems to be completely in his stride with this role. He performs brilliantly in this film. Nods to Max Von Sydow as well. If you're into action/mystery films with a good dose of Science Fiction tossed in for good measure, this is your film. Minority Report is a must for your DVD collection!

The premise:

It is the year 2054 and the film takes place in Washington D. C. For the past several years, murder is all but a thing of the past. With the advent of the Pre Crime division, where three pre-cogs, see a murder before it happens. Tom Cruise plays the chief of the Pre Crimes division, leading the troops in the apprehension of these criminals who haven't, yet are about to commit murder. His character is plagued by the murder of his son, six years prior and is suffering the emotional damage from that murder. The pre-cogs, foretell a murder and as Tom Cruise is working his amazing futuristic computer to discover who the murderer is, he finds that it is he who is the murderer. And so goes the film as he makes his way out of the Pre Crime building and starts on his quest to figure out who has set him up.

Based on P. K. Dick's short story, and blessed by sure-fire duo of director Spielberg and star Tom Crusie, "Minority Report" would fascinate many film fans, but that's not in the same way as "Blade Runner" did. It's more like "Indiana Jones" in sci-fi area; it is always moving and entertaining, but the dark world that P. K. Dick's world represented is much modified for wider audiences. But still, "Minority Report" delivers much.

The year is 2054. Tom Cruise is a chief detective Anderton at Department of Precrime, where he and his team are dedicated to their mission; that is, to stop the crimes that have not happened yet. Helped by three "pre-cogs" floating in the water, they can detect the time, and persons that would be involved in the crime, and hurry to the crime scene. But what if there's a flaw in the system? What if the oracle of precogs is wrong, accusing of the wrong person?

Anderton, who has a sad memory in the past (which would be revealed later in the film), could shake off the doubt even before the strong argument from the hotshot agent sent by Department of Justice, Colin Farrell, who obviously does not share Anderton's thought. But still Anderton believed that he could keep on doing his job in order to elinimate all the crimes from his district ... until he is made to see something too unbelievable.

I just introduced the opening part of this long film (running time being almost 150 minutes), but you get the drift. There are great chase scenes, hauntingly realistic picture of the future world, and equally impressive acting from the leading actor Tom Cruise, whose role is not 100% heroic. But it is Spielberg as gifted storyteller who really stands out, leading us to the end of rather stretched story (and, inevitably, the story is greatly changed from the original).

The vision of the future is surely impressive, but if you're looking for the dark images of "Blade Runner", you will be disappointed. Remember, it is Spielberg, and his previous work "AI", which was once attached to Kubrik, is not a good example of describing the relentlessly cold world. It is similar to "Total Recall" essentially, only without the graphic violence Arnie and Sharon had to suffer. But, beware, Tom's character too in fact suffers a very painful scene (oh, eyes).

The film presents effective actions, and as I said, its visuals are impeccable, but as you know, Steven sometimes overreaches himself, and he did it again. To me, those "yoga" and "meat" and, well, as I said "eyes" should have been left in the cutting room. They are his brand of grotesque "humor", I know that, but they are also all out of tune in the final result.

As for Tom Cruise's career, I can say "Minority Report" is the best so far since his film-producing partnership with Paula Wagner started, being much superior to "Mission Impossible" and its sequel. However, it is also notable that supporting roles are a bit weak and unconvincing, even with the inclusion of Max Von Sidow and Lois Smith. It may be batural result for our attentions are all supposed to go to the lead Tom himself, and in this case the story requires so. That is why the conclusion is not as strong as the impressive first half, and even his fans would admit that the latter half of the film need more polishing. The original idea about detecting future gets lost among the muddled wrap-up, and sometimes you wonder at the film's inconsistency, like; "Why can't they think of this while they can do that?"

But as a whole "Minority Report" is a good work, but not as good as raving reviews of some critics suggest. I say so, because I like to see good storytelling, and you can find it there, but there is also too incredible moments and plot holes, which are barely covered by the director's great skills.

The latest from the master of film, Steven Spielberg, Minority Report is a very entertaining film. Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell and others, is about a man in the future, who is being hunted for a Pre-Crime he does not believe he will commit. He has a certain amount of time before the pre-crime is supposed to take place, and tries to search for answers before it is too late. (This is a very, extremely, dumbed down version of the synopsis)

Spielberg tried to draw on the film noir genre to make the film, and doing this definitely gave the film a much more dark feeling overall. There was a certain sense of mystery to the whole movie, and while it is fairly predictable who the villain is,(there are only a limited amount of main characters in the movie, which is why it is predictable) the ride to get to that point where the movie reveals the villain is altogether thrilling, and visually astonishing.

As much as others have said the movie is loaded with action, I have to disagree. The movie has a couple nice action sequences, yes, but in reality, considering the movie's long running time, there weren't that many. The reason why the movie seemed action filled from beginning to end was really because Spielberg truly was able to convey a sense of excitement and intrigue through the dialogue. It reminds me of what the movie "The Beach" wanted to be -a thriller without the action, but where "The Beach" failed, Minority Report has succeeded.

That is not to say there aren't some nice scenes with action of course. The one I loved the most was the sequence where John Anderton (Tom Cruise) has to jump from one car to another, while all the cars are going down a literally vertical highway (the futuristic highways remind me of rollercoasters).

Many felt that the ending to this was way too drawn out, and similar to Spielberg's last movie AI, should have cut out the last 20 minutes or so. I disagree, as I felt the last part of the movie gave it that finishing touch that makes it even more film noir like.

Spielberg has also revealed a darker and more morbid sense of humor that may have come from his tangle with Kubrick in AI. One of the scenes that perfectly illustrates this new Kubrickan Spielberg is one where a man in the movie has to chase after his own eyeballs, bouncing down a hallway -something that is sickeningly funny, and definitely a type of scene that was previously not part of Spielberg's film vocab.

Overall, Minority Report is a thoughtful thriller that definitely warrants at least one viewing.

If you let a ball roll along a table top it will, without question, roll off the edge of the table and hit the floor. That is, unless, you intervene, and catch the ball before it hits the floor.

That is the way John Anderton (Tom Cruise) views the Pre-Crime world of 2054 Washington D.C. This futuristic setting has found a way to bring to fruition the end of murder altogether. Anderton is a member of an elite police force known as the Pre-Crime Unit, and they are on the verge of expanding their successful experiment to the rest of the nation. Washington D.C. has been the testing ground, and the unit has managed to reduce the murder rate to zero.

How is this accomplished? Three young and gifted persons with the ability to see certain events in the future (Pre-Cogs) are kept in careful containment within the innermost sanctum of Pre-Crime, and when one (or all) of them foresee a murder, it is recorded, played back, and the police search for clues so that they can stop it from taking place. The "murderers" are grabbed before they can kill their "victim", and are placed in a holding chamber that I found quite chilling. As the Pre-Cog / Pre-Crime success rate has been 100% thus far, Anderton is as faithful a believer in the system as anyone possibly could be.

Until one of the Pre-Cogs sees a murder commited by *him*.

That is when "Minority Report" kicks into hyper-gear and Anderton is on the run. We are given a whirlwind tour of 2054 Washington D.C. - a jarring hybrid of futuristic cityscapes and more modern, down to earth, cozy settings. There are also pop-up ads galore, as advertising in the future apparently knows exactly who you are, where you are, and what you like to buy. This all makes for an interesting, if somewhat amusing side-diversion from the main gist of the story.

Anderton is told to "find the Minority Report" in order to clear his name. As there are three Pre-Cogs, they may not always agree. If, for example, only two of them agree on future events, then the third's "differing" vision is what is known as the Minority Report. But that report is often hidden away fairly quickly. So Anderton needs to find it in order to clear himself. Or does it even exist?

I liked this movie, for the most part. There is more action (and blood) than I was expecting, but its core ideas give you pause for thought. Is it fair to incarcerate someone for something they were *going* to do? Was that their only, pre-determined future? Or are there other possibilities? Can we make a different choice? All are fascinating questions to me, and I enjoyed watching a movie that raised all those issues. There is, however, a major hole in the story's crucial plot point, which I found totally unforgivable. I won't give it away here. You'll have to decide for yourself if you agree.

Returning to Anderton's Pre-Crime view of a world where the ball rolls along the table until it will invariably roll off the edge and hit the floor unless it is stopped, I am given to think: Doesn't that mean that there are then TWO possible futures, at least? A ball rolling along the table (a person on a path to commiting murder) doesn't, in any way, predict that the ball will actually roll off the edge (the person will commit the murder). There are many different variables that could come in to play, many possible futures to choose from. And a ball is a far cry from a living, breathing, thinking human being - another mark against Anderton's analogy. So is it therefore right to forever lock-up a pre-murderer?

Stuff to ponder....

Stephen Spielberg's latest sci-fi/action film "Minority Report" is certainly a massive special-effects hit, but great special effects and a superstar actor cannot always compensate for a weakened story and predictability. The film is based upon the brilliant short-story (of the same name) that was written by Philip K Dick (1928-1982), who also wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Unfortunately, the original story was changed to better accommodate the film's lead actor, Tom Cruise.

Set in the U.S. in 2053, Americans have ceded many constitutional freedoms, privacy and protections to a new totalitarian federal agency whose sole purpose is to predict and prevent murders before they happen. The agency, headed by Director Lamar Burgess (Max Von Sydow), predicts murders by using the skills of three people highly gifted with precognitive extrasensory perception. The three "precogs" (as they are called) are regarded as being infallible, especially by Tom Cruise's character, John Anderton, who is one of the agency's star detectives. (In the original story, John Anderton was the police commissioner.) To John's great disbelief, the precogs predict that he will commit a murder of someone that he does not know. Like anyone else so accused, John runs to avoid the same fate as all other people accused and easily convicted of pre-crime: imprisonment via suspended animation.

Much of the film is devoted to John running from pre-crime detectives while he attempts to determine the identity of his supposed victim. During the high-tech chase (Hollywood sure loves chase scenes), Spielberg highlights many special effects. These included cars that can drive along vertical surfaces and electronic billboards that cater their advertisements to each person after scanning and identifying each from his/her retina. The billboards enhanced the film's Orwellian flavor.

Minor performances in the film include Lois Smith (who played Kathy in the 1980 film "Resurrection" and Aunt Meg in the 1996 action film "Twister") as Dr. Iris Hineman, a good performance by Samantha Morton as the precog Agatha, and an excellent performce by Peter Stormare as black-market eye surgeon Dr. Solomon Eddie. Plot twists used in the film's ending scenes (which totally abandoned Philip K. Dick's original ending) were highly reminiscent of an earlier Tom Cruise film, "Mission Impossible". Tom Cruise's formulaic portrayal of John Anderton was, unfortuneately, typical of many past egocentric characters including Lt. 'Maverick' Mitchell in "Top Gun", Charlie Babbit in "Rain Man", Lt. Kaffee in "A Few Good Men", Mitch McDeere in "The Firm", Jerry in "Jerry Maquire", Frank Mackay in "Magnolia" and Ethan Hunt in "Mission Impossible", to name a few.

Though the film is entertaining, it is doubtful that "Minority Report" will attain the same level of respect and appreciation in the sci-fi community as "Blade Runner", which was based upon "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and directed by Ridley Scott (It would be interesting to see how Ridley Scott would have interpreted Philip K. Dick's short story and who he would have chosen to star in the film.) With its Orwellian portrayal of the future, morbid humor, cyberpunk sets and great special effects, but less than stellar portrayal of the original story, "Minority Report" earns a reserved 4-star rating. It also shows that combining a superstar director with a superstar actor doesn't necessarily result in an infallible film.

Minority Report is a spectacular science fiction masterpiece directed by the great Steven Spielberg and loosely adapted from a short story by Philip K. Dick, one of the fathers of the cyberpunk genre. The movie shows us a world filled with dazzling technology but tells a personal story of a man who is betrayed by the system he worked for. There's plenty of action throughout the film but there's also some philosophy to make you think for hours after the end.

Minority Report is set in Washington, in the year 2054 and it's a great time to live in. The world has changed considerably and advanced technology pervades every aspect of life. Moving pictures draw your attention to every ad and poster. Holograms enable you to live out your wildest fantasies. Mag-lev vehicles ensure that 'car accidents' are a thing of the past. Retinal scanners are everywhere and the cops have jetpacks so the potential criminal has nowhere to run. In fact there hasn't been a single murder in Washington for six years thanks to a group of psychics who see every murder that's going to happen in the future. The police arrest these would-be criminals and place them in suspended animation. It's a good thing the system can't be tampered with and the precogs are never wrong.

At least that's what John Anderton the chief of police thinks until the precogs show him killing someone he doesn't even know. He must use all of his skills to escape and outwit the now-hostile system and find out the truth about the precogs, the conspiracies and his own destiny. All the actors give great performances, especially Tom Cruise and Samantha Morton.

Can we make choices that change our destiny or is the future inevitable. Is it fair to imprison someone for a crime they didn't commit...yet? Is this a worthy price to pay to maintain a murder-free society? Minority Report will give you a lot to think about and its engrossing mystery will keep you engaged until the very end. However, it is not a happy movie and some scenes are very heartbreaking so stay away if you don't like that sort of thing.

Before I begin, I want to make clear that this is one of the best films I've seen this year. Unfortunately, Speilberg took a masterpiece and made it a good film. Typical to Speilberg is the necessary ending in which things are resolved. This formula worked well for some of his past movies, but was ill needed in this film. I am curious as to how many people feel that this film would have been an unblemished masterpiece had it ended with Cruise being place under arrest and Max Von Sydow getting away with the crime. Sure this would not have garnished as many repeat viewings but it would have left me with the unsettling feeling of how wrong the system they had really was. The last half hour reminded me of the old hollywood days in which it was required for the villan to pay for his villanous acts.

This film had the potential to be untouched by similar genre films, but instead allowed itself to be bogged down to please the status quo.

I have to mention...the scene after Cruise had the eye transplants and the "spiders" were searching the building is one of the most intense and superbly shot scenes I have seen in a long time

Here's the bottom line on Minority Report, the new Spielberg movie with Tom Cruise: it's worth your time.

It's visually dazzling, an incredible look at a future Washington, with lots of fascinating gizmos and gadgets. It's also got riveting action scenes (in the first half of the movie, anyway), and a great premise. Cruise's character has been arrested after precogs (they can see the future) have decided that he will commit a future crime. He's arrested to be prosecuted for that crime.

The story is so good that it keeps you interested-- the movie keeps you thinking and on the edge of your seat SIMULTANEOUSLY which is something movies can rarely do.

The downside: this movie has a lot of scenes that are not integral to the plot, and it's too long, at about 2 hours and 20 minutes. This type of movie (sci-fi action) should almost always run under 2 hours, in my opinion. There's a bit too much of the typical Spielberg sentimentality, too, and at just the worst spot. But those are my only gripes.

Believe me-- I'm no great fan of Tom Cruise, and I'm not Spielberg's biggest fan either, but I give Minority Report a 4/5.

ken32