Rating: 
Summary: ..a mediocre ride...
Review: After viewing this film adaptation of Phillip K. Dick's short story of the same title, I wondered whether the science fiction master would be turning in his grave. The film certainly managed to retain the original story's major themes: fascism, pre-cognition and the nature of reality, however, in true Spielbergian fashion, sentimentalism was given center stage, with a surprising successful attempt at film noir. Again, Spielberg managed to pilfer a piece of literature and shape-shift it into a postmodern hodge-podge of suger a spice and everything nice, with a little Disney thrown in for good measure.I can hear PKD's coffin creaking as I write... To be fair, over the last decade, Tom Cruise has shown that he's quite aware of his limited range as an actor, and since his exceptional performance in 'Born on the Fourth of July', has been hard pressed to bust through his artistic bounderies. This is, of course, commendable. That considered, though, his performance in ~Minority Report~ is, well - average. He did the job - but just... Many reviewers have called the arrival of Spielberg's latest as 'timely'. That is to say, considering our current civil and political climate, the Bill of Rights being jettisoned in the name of 'national security', the creation of a 'pre-crime' police force is more real than fiction. We've been warned for years from George Orwell's '1984' to PKD's 'Minority Report', about how easy it can be for a Western democracy to fall into fascism. Let's call a spade a spade: Spielberg has merely piggybacked on the shoulders of these true prophetic giants. That said, ~Minority Report~, taken at its superficial level, is an entertaining experience, which will keep the children rivited to their respective chairs. Admittedly, there are moments in the film, particularly on the editing side of things, which should recieve a few nods from the film industry. Overall, though, there is nothing remarkable about this film, and it should be taken for what it is: a mediocre ride in a schmaltzy theme park.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many plot holes
Review: This was a good film that could have been much, much better. My main criticism, and I won't say much about it because I don't want to spoil the film for anyone, is that there were too many plot holes. Things would happen, and I'd say to myself, "How can that be? Wouldn't such-and-such happen?" The film has a great premise, good acting, excellent special effects, and some intriguing philosophical questions. Unfortunately, the plot just doesn't hold up.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Sci-Fi Film
Review: Minority Report is easily one of the year's best and Cruise's best.The special and visual effect's are excellent,they are not as good as that of episode 2,but their just as good.The film was shot and lokks great.The plot was great and there were so many twists and turns.Here is how the plot goes.It is the year 2054 and there is a new way to solve murder.Cstch the culprite before the murder occurs,here's how.There are these three half-human type people who have the ability to see a murder before it happen's they can because they have a gift that allow's them to see it.There names are Agatha,Arthur and Dashiell.They are put in the pre-crime investegation department where once they see a murder a ball comes out of the water where they are put in and it tells who will commit the murder and who will be killed.John Anderton played by Tom Cruise is the lead detective there.Then a man by the name of Ed Witwer who works with the attorney general comes to the pre-crime department to find out things about it.He first wants to go visit the three who visualize the murder's but no one is allowed in there.Then he pulls out a warrant that aloows him to see them and he and other officers go in there.Then afterward's a bal pos out that says Anderton will kill a man named Leo Crow,but Anderson has never heard of the man.Then he escapes out of the departmant before anyone sees the ball and now he is on a quest to prove his innocence.This film was so awesome it keep's you on the edge of your seet with plenty of thrill's,i also liked the way Spielberg focused on how Anderton's feeling's are because his son disappeared years ago.I suggest to everyone to go see this film.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Visionary Film
Review: I must disagree with spinewiz, I thought this film was quite entertaining and a film that gorgeously portrays how life might be in the future. Being a thirteen year old, I like my sci-fi movies and this is one of my favorites. Though it may never compare with some of Spielberg's other revolutionary work such as Jaws, it is defenitly an evolutinary work in showing the future as it might be. Spielberg beautifully captured this movie on film in such a way that while every shot has so much detail, so much life it is all seen and enjoyed. We must remember that the film is based on the book by Phillip K. Dick who also wrote "Do Androids Dream Of Electtic Sleep", the inspiration for Bladerunner, the futuristic classic. And while Tom Cruise may never be respected like Bladerunner's star, Harrison Ford, is nevertheless provides a performance that makes you feel for his character. Although you probably already know the basic plot for the movie if you are on this page, the end holds quite a surprise which I won't give away. Again this film's settings are engaging and filled with detail. If you have any interest in sci-fi movies, Steven Spielberg, or Phillip K. Dick this movie is a must see.
Rating:
Summary: Speilberg Misses The Mark Again!
Review: Steven Spielberg misses the mark again for me here. It was a little disappointing to me but I gave it an even rating because I thought its production design was incredible. It is a great movie to look at. The technology and the promise of a future where we survive, make this an interesting film. This movie was far more interesting that his last project AI. Just to put things in perspective ' my favorite Spielberg films are (and they are in no order), Jaws, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, E.T. Schindler's List, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Always and Saving Private Ryan. Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise. Not much of a stretch for him and not of lot of originality. (He was much better in Risky Business and All The Right Moves.) All the other supporting cast we kind of flat, but again, the technology was incredible. Display screens, holograms, electronic spiders and ore. Basically the premise is that three people using telepathy can predict murders and the murderers ' before they kill. They are then arrested and put in hibernation. The problem is that Tom's character learns info that starts this race against time. The most interesting character and the most dynamic performer came from Lois Smith. She played the inventor of the software and system that allows the psychics to do what they do. She seemed to have a lot of fun with Tom. This is a matinee type of film or wait for the video release ' but the production design is what stands out. Take a chance if you have nothing better to do.
Rating:
Summary: Good one - but the flaw is.......
Review: the ending, of course. Tom Cruise (have you been bulking up, Tom?) does his flawed hero act very nicely in this Spielberg futurama but, for my money he was seriously upstaged by Samantha Morton as the hard-done-by precog. The scenario was apparently created in consultation with several futurists and, if this is their view of the future I really don't want to be there. Crime fighting has taken a 'step forward' in D.C. with the use of 'precogs' - humans (just) who can see into the future and predict murders. Cruise stars as the policeman with a problem who goes out and arrests people who are pedicted to commit murder in the future. Pre-crime, it's called and it's not too hard nowadays (thanks to Attorney General Ashcroft) to imagine it happening. Problem is, Cruise has a few skeletons in his own closet and pretty soon he comes upon a prediction of a crime with his name on it. Run Tom, run. Now all that's left of the movie are several interesting plot twists and Cruise's mission to clear his name. Visually, this movie is pretty nice - I liked the "the technology already exists" feel to some of the infrastructure. There's an interesting bird's eye scene in an apartment block that I found amusing and the grungier sets put me in mind of Blade Runner at times - no bad thing. Of course, if you like to nit-pick technology (how DID he get past the security system?) this is a good movie for that. But that's easy to do with most sci-fi movies. All-in-all a pretty good movie and one I'd recommend (on DVD, not at the theater, I'm notoriously cheap.) But back to the flaw? Well, it's the most common one in Hollywood movies. Spielberg has produced a good movie but I think he may have focus-grouped the ending. While most of the movie is tight, believable and suspenseful, the last ten minutes or so appear to have been written by the same folks who brought us the Teletubbies. Shame, that.
Rating: 
Summary: Why Spielberg is not hooked on a perfect world...
Review: What will probably spoil the program behind a crime-free perfect city of Washington D.C.? Answer: the Minority Report. Precrime is a goverment experiment as a solution to an epidemic crime rate by arresting criminals just before they commit their crimes. The experiment is developed with the discovery of children with cosmic gifts specializing on precognition of murders and homicides. The system is supposed to be perfect as the wired seers, precogs as they are called, receive shadowy images of future crimes and project them on screen as Precrime agents like John Anderton (Tom Cruise) establish their subjects' identities, backgrounds and exact locations fast enough before each crime takes place. For people living in crime-infested cities today, this can be a beautiful dream. No matter if this future involves eye-scanning private individuals wherever they are, is just a part of modern-day essentials, from public security to personalized advertisements. This movie shows that for citizens of the near future living in a murder-free society, intrusion of privacy is a small price to pay. Precrime is supposed to be a foolproof crime prevention system. But like any other system created, there can always be loopholes where flawed humans can fit themselve into if motivated by the all time classic lure of greed. Thus the Minority Report is of file deletion and flaw in interpretations. The one crime successfully committed is dismissed as an echo--image of a crime scene projected by the precogs as continuations of the same future crime the agency has supposedly already solved. Its Attorney-General Lamar Burgess' (Max von Sydow) vanity for recognition makes up for the whodunit plot of this movie as he frames people to cover up and complete his own act of murder to keep the most powerful of the three last living precogs in their custody. And framing its own good cop Anderton to commit a murder in the future, a set-up he would be made to believe as the answer to his loss of his young son to an unsolved kidnap case at the time of pre-Precrime, is just part of the boss' whole grand demonstrations. Steven Spielberg illustrates that still nothing so sophisticated a technology can make crime-fighting the most exciting Eutopic agenda to watch out for 52 years into the future. But there are a number of idyllic year 2054 "realities" to look forward to, like the cityscape Spielberg created which is definitely much sleeker and livable than what George Lucas built for Star Wars -- where pollution-free cars run on magnetic superhighways in all imaginable directions but in most orderly of traffics; stun guns (as opposed to laser guns) as the safest anti-crime weapons; spic and span prison tubes with highly controlled coma-state prisoners (the less maintenance on delinquents, my dear); the flattest and most reliable of data storage hardware; ear-size phones (no need to find them when you forget they're hooked on your ears); hybrid poisonous giant vines (could be cheaper alternative to residential security concerns); 1950's fashion (a hundred years of retro?), and lush green countrysides. For viewers who like complicated plots and subplots but don't like to wait for sequels, this story is a kind one with the catharsis of an everybody-happy ending served right in its conclusion. Including the fate of the exploited characters of the precogs, who for a large part of their young lives are sustained on multivitamins and serotonin for their non-stop churning out of invaluable precognitive visions. Now they are left with their own peace in an island --to read novels. Seemingly needless to explain at this point whatever happend to their relentless gift/curse: no surrounding people, no premontions. Unlike in The Matrix where the pursuit of Eutopia and its good vs. evil complications are still carried on in virtual reality scenarios by "the One" in its second part, the Minority Report apparently makes Spielberg's intentions clear of not to amaze us with too much intangible science warping into philosophical fictions, but to raise the issue of what society decides to do with every breakthrough technology and the immense power that a few people harness from it. Whether a system's mission could be noble enough even as it takes hold of an individual's freewill, or should it rather affect an individual to turn a decision around and change destiny even at a moment. Spielberg never disappoints his fans as the alien with an insightful soul. :)
Rating:
Summary: Grade "A" Report For "Minority Report"
Review: For as odd as it may seem to be, I actually found that I enjoyed Steven Spielberg's lastest film, "Minority Report". You ask, why is that odd? Well, see, I do not consider myself a Spielberg fan. I consider his films childish. I've always gotten the impression he never injects himself into his work. He merely makes films just to make money. There's no pure passion in his work. Clearly my view of him is not the majority view. But, with "A.I." and now this film, Spielberg I feel has made back to back entertaining films.
"Minority Report" starts out in the year 2054. And Precrime Law Enforcement is the new wave of the future. Precrime as the title may suggest, is actually able to know in advance when a crime will take place. For, there will be many whom say, well, there are some plot holes right there. And perhaps they are right, but, in order to enjoy the film, we must go along with it and accept it's ideas. Or else, we are just wasting are money. Heck, we can buy into some of other Spielberg films, where dinosaurs came back and chase humans, so why not?!
Tom Cruise plays Detective John Anderton, one of the best and hardest working cops at Precrime. Anderton has a lot of secrets in his closet and when we find out what they are it adds a whole new level to the film. Now, it plays on our human emotions as well. Which was a smart move. Now, it's not just a science fiction movie, it goes deeper than that. Anderton and Director Burgess (the great Max von Sydow) are under investigation for Precrime. Burgess wants his Precrime to go nationwide, but, for government purposes this must all be checked out. To make sure there are no flaws with this system. So detective Ed Witwer (Colin Farrell) is sent watching Cruise and the rest of the police at Precrime's every move. This is really just the movie's way of setting up it's story as to how this all works. But, I won't reveal it here for those who haven't seen it. But, soon, after we are told by Anderon (Cruise) that we are dealing with a system that NEVER makes any mistakes, Anderton soon starts to doubt himself, when he finds that one is now going to kill a man. And so, this is where the film takes off.
There's a feeling of an old-fashioned noir film to "Minority Report" recalling films like "The Big Clock" and "Dark Passage". I don't not know how much was added to the story from Philip K. Dick by the screenwriters, Scott Frank and John Cohen, but, I like the twist and turns they have in store for us. The film has a lot to say about what we should and shouldn't put our beliefs into. And there's suprisingly a lot more to like than the screenplay. Spielberg always manages to get the best special effects in the business. And his directing isn't half bad either. He has a clever way with telling the story, which I enjoyed very much. Good solid acting by Sydow, it would be nice if he was nominated for best supporting actor. And Cruise somehow gets himself into good movies, movies that are always better than him. I also have to note the impressive job by Samath Morton, you should remember her from Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown".
Bottom-line:Spielberg does some movie magic with this film. Should please all who see it. Truly one of the year's best films!
Rating:
Summary: Shadows of 1984
Review: Minority Report, based on a 1956 short story by science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, has intriguing and entertaining elements. No expense has been spared. The filmmakers have thought up all manner of ingenious devices, combining the retrograde and the futuristic, to create the world of 2054. Indeed, that the writer had the same concerns in 1956 that we do now is more than a little disturbing. Issues of privacy, surveillance, human rights, addictions and obsessions, and legal definitions of criminality come into play. The film is set in Washington DC, during a time when murder has been removed. At the Justice Department's elite Pre-crime unit, detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is downloading information from the pre-cogs, a trio of humans who spend their time floating in a vat of conducting fluid, wired to one another and to a computer that reads images of murders about to happen, that come to them because they have ESP. Since Pre-crime has been in existence for 6 years at this point, the murders tend never to be premeditated, but imminent crimes of passion still crop up. And so, Anderton's skills are important -- he's good at reading the signs quickly and accurately. He's also a classic haunted cop due to the still-unsolved disappearance of his son years earlier, turning him into the fiercest defender of the controversial precrime program - clearly he believes it might have saved his boy. But the theoretical arguments about the reliability and morality of precrime suddenly become all too personal when an alert from the precogs names Anderton himself as the perpetrator of an upcoming murder. In a matter of minutes the cop finds himself on the run from both a Federal investigator and his own highly trained unit as he desperately tries to figure out what's going on. Has he been set up by an enemy of the precrime program? And who is the mystery man he's supposedly going to kill? Unfortunately, the compelling logical and legal issues brought up don't get much play beyond plot points, for they up the ante in everything else going on in Minority Report, from the ethics of taking predictions as "facts" to the political and ideological ramifications of a society premised on surveillance. Instead, the film remains more focused on Anderton's personal predicament: his own obsession with avoidance of his past, his self-pity and outrage, his determination to make his world "right" (yeah, sure). However, Steven Spielberg is not a fool, nor simply a propagandist for the existing state of things. The sight of helmeted, black-outfitted police crashing through windows and ceilings to apprehend individuals whose only crime is harboring violent thoughts is menacing and ominous - as are the images of mechanical spiders, who detect human presence, invading and searching an apartment building. Indeed, I'm sure many in our current Federal government are taking notes. Minority Report provides us with a policeman's eye view, filtered through suffocating layers of Hollywood liberalism, of the issue of the police-state. And in our so-called "war on terrorism", the film asks another important question: would you trade freedom for safety? I wouldn't.
Rating:
Summary: pkd done right
Review: with the ghosts of A.I. nipping at his heels, spielberg dazzles with a remarkably successful venture back into sci-fi taking its basis from the philip k. dick short story of the same name, minority report transports and transfixes the viewer into the future, to the year 2054, where pre-crime has been functioning successfully in washington dc for the past six years.
precrime has made murder a thing of the past, and detective anderton, is one of the best pre-crime detectives there has been. as the movie opens, we are brought into anderton's world, where the pre-cogs (precognitives, with future sight) see murders before they happen. but what happens when the system fingers one of its own...
anderton is now faced with seeing a murder committed by himself...of someone he has never even met. we follow him on his crusade to find out if the system can fail...
what if the pre-cogs disagree...what if they are wrong...
is he really to kill someone he does not know?
do we have free choice as we think, or are we fated to follow through regardless of our efforts to the contrary. this is the meat of the movie, and pkd at his best, using sci-fi as a venue to voice a social question regarding free will. the movie is a wonderful contrast of futuristic landscapes, with georgetown homes, high tech weaponry, and old fashioned handguns. spielberg uses the camera to change perspective, and does some rather humorous things with product placement (similar as well to neal stephensons the diamond age), showing how marketing can be taken in by the glimmers of technology. a well directed movie, and a convincingly acted one as well.
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