DVD : Minority Report (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition)

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- What if you were accused of a murder you hadn't committed yet??
+++++

This intelligent science fiction movie is based on the short story "The Minority Report" (1956) written by Philip K. Dick (1928 to 1982).

In the mid-21ST century, murderers are caught before they actually commit the murder. How is this achieved? By harnessing the extraordinary power of mutant humans who have the ability of precognition (the perception of an event, murder in the movie's case, before it occurs.) These mutant humans are called "precogs."

The police force utilizes these precogs (there are three) by developing a "Precrime" unit. This unit is headed by Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) and the director of the unit is Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow). The new system is working well until one day the precogs have a prevision that the Chief himself will commit a murder. The rest of the movie is about the Chief running from the Precrime unit and trying to find proof of his innocence.

Now that you know what the movie is about you might ask why it has such a strange title. When the three precogs all agree on a prevision of murder, a "majority report" is generated. If two precogs agree but one disagrees, then a "minority report" is generated. (It is this minority report that the Chief is after to prove his innocence.)

This movie was directed by Steven Spielberg and it shows. He has taken a short story and effectively expanded it.

The special effects showing this future world are fantastic. However, Spielberg does not let these special effects dominate the movie.

There is also good background music and in some scenes, classical music is even used.

The acting is well done. Cruise as the Chief effectively carries the movie while Max Von Sydow gives a good performance as the aging director.

Some say that the ending of this movie is not very good. I disagree. It portrays what a reasonable, rational society would do.

There is only one flaw that I detected in the story. Once the Chief is declared a future murderer, he shouldn't have access to the Precrime unit's headquarters. Yet he does! (It should be noted that I discovered this flaw after the movie was over. This flaw never occurred to me as I was viewing the movie because I was so absorbed in the story.)

Finally, the DVD (single disc edition) is perfect with respect to picture and sound quality. It has two extras, both of which I found interesting.

In conclusion, if you like intelligent fast-paced science fiction mystery thrillers, then this is the movie for you!!

**** 1/2

(2002; 145 min; widescreen; 24 scenes)

+++++

Rating:

- Ambitious But Nearly A Miss
Argubly one of the best sci-fi stories made to film since Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey, Minority Report features the main theme to be questioned - Is it possible that we can stop a crime from being committed before hand? The Pre-Cogs are the driving force behind the concept backed up by solid technology of the mid 21st century. But there's a catch...is there a chance of catching the wrong person and letting the real guilty party walk away free? The idea of a pre-crime division has become a subject of fascination and debate among top scientists in the world as well as those in the government law-enforcement agencies today.

This is Cruise and Spielberg's first collaboration ever - but their relationship evolved way back in 1987. Originally slated to work together in Rain Man, Spielberg had to leave following work on the third Indiana Jones movie. While the novella presents the overall outline and concept of the story, filmmakers expanded the scope by putting in noir, mystery elements with a personal character driven-element of our protagonist (we see it in the middle of the movie) together with the futuristic impression of what's it like in 2054. And the story has evolved a lot more better than its novella due to pre-production delays.

Production values were high here from its designs to visuals as well as to its convincing acting and sounds/music. Most of the crew whom worked with Spielberg were veterans in the business having collaborated with him personally in more than 10 of his films. As an anecdote for the visuals, even though grainy and blue in hues and partly hand-held, they are part of artistic reasons - showing the kind of guerilla-filmmaking in the future and intending to make audiences feel the coldness, immediate
danger and the feeling of participation. Towards the end of the opening segment, audiences were given an emotional scare - a 30-second countdown (if you time properly) for Anderton to reach the room. What about the eye-candy shots (Part of what Spielberg films have) of components lowering down in the car factory? Those shots let you feel of being in a roller coaster thing. Those two above demonstrates the great editing that makes the movie less than boring.

Eagle-eye fans of Kubrick's films would be happy to see several moments that serves as homages to Kubrick. Also, the car-factory segment is actually Ernest Lehman's abandoned concept for supposed to be scene in North By Northwest.

Despite big production value, the weakest link of the movie is indeed some of the elements in the movie itself. The ending was quite a difficult thing to work out after well built and thought-out first two acts of the movie. Filmmakers were trying to come out with a satisfying end but still lacks the expected standard. As we go into the second act, there's a loophole maybe more than one. For instance after Anderton is declared a fugitive most systems in the Pre-Crime HQ should no longer accept his entry but the logic was not appropriate. The worst of all is that by the second-act it is detracting from a supposed to be noir story as Lara was brought in into the fray. The old man Burgess was the most wasted character of all - he should be given more depth.

Nonetheless, it's a great sci-fi story taken from Phillip Dick's vision of the future to the current reality. It's worth the watch, even though it's a lengthy 150 minute feature.

Just watch it and be immersed with the future.

[Reviewed by my friend Melvin, from Malaysia]

Rating:

- Haunting
In the future, murders have run rampant, spilt blood seeping right over the vacillating thin-blue-line. Many have lost loved ones and never get a sense of closure nor the sense of peace provided by the exercise of justice. The chief of the experimental pre-crime unit, John Anderton, never questions the ethics of keeping three mentally handicapped "pre-cogs" captive to utilize their abilities to foresee and prevent would-be murders; as far as anyone knows, there are no flaws in the system--with the system in place, every murder in Washington D.C. has been averted. He never questions whether or not would-be murderers could possibly change their own destiny. He doesn't quesion at all, until his own people attempt to arrest him for the vision of Anderton killing a mysterious man called Crow. People's impression of this movie is so varied one from another that it is nearly impossible to draw any conclusions from anyone's review. What most people are here to determine is whether or not they want to buy this movie. If you've already seen it and liked it, I guarantee you won't regret buying it. It is worth watching multiple times. If you've seen it and weren't too enthusiastic about it, try watching it again. You might change your mind, as your expectations of it are more realistic: it's not a popcorn thriller. It doesn't manipulate people with movie cliches nor is it filled with superfuous special effects put there primarily to excite people their first time watching. Instead we have something profoundly disturbing, moving and edifying all in one package. The themes are profound: predestination, the conflict of principle vs. uility, loss and healing. There is art, imagery and imagination and--as would be expected--it's impossible to ignore Cruise's earnest portrayal of the instensely conflicted protagonist. For many people, Minority Report belongs on the shelf next to their most prized DVD's.

Rating:

- A great Sci-Fi motion picture in the tradition of Blade Runner.
Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is about a cop in the future working in a division of the police department that arrests killers before they commit the crimes courtesy of some future viewing technology. Cheif John Anderton has the tables turned on him when he is accused of a future crime and must find out what brought it about and stop it before it can happen

Steven Speilberg has created a Sci-Fi masterpiece that is full of action, is smart, and is thrilling. He takes Philip K. Dick's story and makes it his own, creating visual and mental candy for us to watch on the screen. He adds his own signature brand of directing by adding a emotional level to the film and making us feel for the characters and what they are going through. He takes the actors and makes them perform like it is their last movie, they all give great performances that would last long times.

Tom Cruise probably gives his second best performance(his first being in Born On The Fourth Of July) as Chief John Anderton. We can feel the intenisty and pain of him after he loses his son and the pain that he suffers through everyday. He makes the film seem so much greater and stronger because his peformance is intense and emotionally there. Samantha Morton was suprisingly wonderful in this as one of the pre-cogs. She really almost made you cry because she delivers some of the most powerful monologues in the film and her acting chops show here with her beautiful peformance. Colin Farrell is brutal. His character really makes you want to hate him and loathe him. He is such a nice guy at first.

Let me tell you, Philip K. Dick has some of the most intellgent and thought provoking stories that are getting picked up by movie studios. His stories are being made into films like Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly and this. But, all of them might not stay true to them, but this movie has taken the story and stayed true to it all the way through the film. I commend Steven for making such a fine adaptation of it and hope that he has more future adaptations of Philip K. Dick short stories.

Overall, the film was a great sci-fi tale heightened by great peformances with solid direction by Steven Spielberg, and a great starting story to make the film on.

Rating:

- An All-Around Great Science Fiction Film!
My wife & I are not big sci-fi fans, but we really enjoyed "Minority Report". The story, the action, and the hi-tech gadgets are all great. Tom Cruise is effective in the lead role and we can actually forget that he is Tom Cruise and just enjoy his character! A fun ride from beginning to end.

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