Rating: Summary: another blunder os Spierlberg Review: 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!
Rating: Summary: does not live up to the hype. Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Do You Have One? Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: The future looks bright, but can looks be deceiving? Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Futuristic film set in 2054. Review: This is a great film, full of twists and unexpected side lines.
John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, is the lead in this film. He believs fully in the precrime system, which identifies murders before they happen. He thinks its an amazing revolution that should be all over the United States. He also believes that if it had been used a few years earlier, it would have saved his son.
However in a twist of fate, the precrime point to him for a murder, so he now has to prove that precrime does not work. There is suspense, action, empathy and much more in this thought provoking film. This is one of spielbergs recent best films, that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Rating: Summary: Good Visuals, Horrible Film Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: Not bad, but skip the last 5 minutes' SCHMALTZFEST! Review: ...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."
Rating: Summary: "The system that keeps us safe also keeps us free." Review: 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
Rating: Summary: Thrilling movie for sci-fi buffs ... Review: 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.
Rating: Summary: The Eyes have it! Rotten Ham Sandwich gets 3 STARS! Review: "Minority Report" is a glossy, glimmery, gossamer little flick: use it as a pretty screen saver on your 65" Plasma HDTV while you're waiting to watch a better film. 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.
But let's dig down into the why this film gets a 3-star rating and move very quickly on: Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise, playing a competent if vexed Tom Cruise) goes to a black-market surgeon for a little much-needed wetware transplant. Because I'm magnanimous, and because I love Peter Stormare and relish every little gig the big guy gets, I give Stormare's warped, cracked, but downright competent role as Dr. Solomon Eddie TWO STARS! Really, Stormare made "Minority Report" for me, and that's saying a lot. I couldn't have gotten through this turgid thing without him.
One extra star goes for the rotten ham sandwich in the refrigerator. Tom Cruise can't say Dr. Eddie didn't warn him in advance, and besides, the copper had it coming. 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 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.
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