Minority Report (2002)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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