Rating:  -
I had no idea what to expect with this movie. The premise is cool and that to me is a key to Sci-Fi success: If your interested in the subject matter then the movie has a reasonable chance to be good.
Well, this movie was better than expected and I really got into it at the end when things really came out and the plot unraveled. You could say the the end may have been a little "Hollywood-ish" but what the heck, it didnt detract from it. The acting and build up were just fine with some great twists along the way. Tom Cruise played his part well and didnt get in the way like he usually does. The supporting cast was well portrayed and I enjoyed the tension and environment everyone created.
Some of the future concepts were super-cool and these kind of things are what make us Sci-Fi Geeks happy. I love seeing what "might" be in the future and this film had some great stuff like that in it. The special effects were solid if unspectacular and the sets and scenes were believable enough.
The whole concept of pre-crime and cognitive awareness is freegin' cool and I like how both sides of it were given roughly equal support. Just like in real-life...what if we could predict crimes prior to them actually happening? Do we have the right to jail the "would-be" perpetrators? What are the legal issues? Good stuff....good stuff!
I really wanted to give the movie 3 1/2 stars but chose 4 stars. It's pretty solid and you'll probably like it if you're into the genre. It has some Hollywood moments and the usual "dumb" henchmen who cant catch anyone to save their lives. Thats pretty typical though.
I probably wont buy the DVD but it was absolutely worth watching.
Definitely Recommended as a evening's entertainment!
Rating:  -
Starting four or five years ago, Cruise began collaborating with high-profile directors and producing some films that far exceeded in some way -- concept or spectacle -- whatever else was out at the time. Suddenly Cruise became not only this big movie star, but a very interesting person besides. MINORITY REPORT, the first Spielberg-Cruise collaboration, is a superior science fiction-action hybrid, with a very intriguing plot, and an ending so far away from the beginning you could lose track of how you got there. In fact, when I saw it the theater, I did. But I didn't get so lost as to lose sight of the fact that an uncompromising science fiction film had just scrambled my mind, and it should be considered an instant classic. This was a visionary masterpiece.
Set in the far future year of 2054, Anderton (Cruise) is the chief of a new crime unit called Pre-crime. In a bang-up opening sequence that demonstrates how the unit works, a SWAT-like team responds to a notification of a predicted crime by three narcotized psychics afloat in a special isolation chamber. The team invades the house, stops the would-be perpetrator just in the nick of time, then arrests him. Because no actual crime has been committed, the predicted perpetrator is "haloed" -- an electronic headband that's shoved on his head and blanks him out -- and put into a special suspension storage facility. After this sequence, we learn that there hasn't been a murder since the unit went into operation. But it raises sticky moral and constitutional questions about imprisoning someone for a crime that never occurred, and the Pre-crime program is under review. Enter a suspicious agent (Colin Farell), a menacing smartass seemingly with an axe to grind.
Then the "precogs" -- the psychics -- predict the next murder, and the predicted perpetrator is none other than Anderton himself, his victim a man he's never even met. Comprehending immediately that he's been set up by someone, he escapes to investigate who. The escape and pursuit of clues is a formula for action, but what was so uncompromising about this film was, Spielberg and Cruise refused to dumb it down to appeal just to the action crowd. The plot deepens as you go along, interspersed with full-throttle action through a tall city fascinating in its conceptualization.
The cinematography shows the future in understated colors, suggesting that everything was sleekly utilitarian, melding dazzling form with commonplace function, a corporate wonderland. Every surface serves as an animated billboard scanning the passerby's eyes for identification, triggering sexy advertisements in which svelte models seamlessly refer to you by name and coo the latest fashion accoutrements. The humdrum acceptance of technical advancement is further suggested by the fact that an ex-con living in a government subsidized apartment building can perform a double eye transplant for a couple of thousand dollars. And there are automobiles that deliver you right up to your apartment, and jet packs and 3-D home movies, and even a retired geneticist-cum-avocational botanist creating slithering plant life to assist in home security. So while you're following this plot, you can be distracted by the wonders of a whizzing environment that regales the senses in almost every scene.
Lending texture to the film, there were respites from the clatter of technology and chase here and there, usually in the homes of the privileged, in the country, where through a reasonable dialogue the plot is deepened and suspicions widened. During it all, there is no cool glibness to fit some movie star's image, no moments of actor self-indulgence. Obviously Spielberg corralled everyone toward creating a real film, and not some blockbuster fiasco to be written off when the receipts were counted and the summer was over.
The image on the DVD is sharp and pristine, capturing what I remembered it looked like in the theater. The second disc has interviews and special effects pieces for those of us who really enjoyed this movie and want to know all about it. For science fiction fans, this is definitely one to add to the library. This will be looked upon in the future as one of the good ones.
Rating: -
Ok, so since everyone and their grandma has seen this movie, and I haven't my boyfriend made me watch it; once more he gets a plus and everyone who likes it is correct for I can now see what all the hoopla is about. Since this has over six hundred review and since it seems than everyone has seen it I won't repeat the plot too much.
The movie starts with a bag; a crime is about to be committed and its being foreseen by three "Pre-Cogs," psychic beings ( human) whose visions of murders have never been wrong and who work with the forces that keep murders down to zero. Well Tom Cruise (I'm not a fan either but he's great in this one, I give credit where it's due) ends up seeing himself committing a crime. Since the system has been flawless we know something is up, since he is a good, kind guy and he is not a murderer. His work place is crawling with private investigators who want a closer look, but who seem like they want him to fail.
What I really enjoyed was the suspense, and the mapping of the puzzle; the answer of what the future will really be like for Chief John Anderton (Cruise) and the bad guys are there but you really have no idea who they really are.
There is a lot of futurist cars, police arrests, flying vehicles, insanely modern prison and a huge mystery surrounding the beginning of Pre-Crime which seems to put whoever gets close to revealing its truth in a death set up like the one John is in.
As Anderson is on the run, he goes through incredible lengths to disguise himself in order not to her arrested he must go below the radar of the state-of-the-art automated city, where every step you take is monitored(eye transplant, facial muscle change, tricks and gimmicks) I found myself biting my lips when he came close to some bad ends.
This is definitely a futuristic type of a movie with tons of action, good fighting, great chases, jumping of buildings, going back in the past and getting some sweet revenge. Yes Minority Report is all that you think it will be, and maybe even more....
Rating:  -
Steveo spends lots of money, lavish sets, millionare actors, high tech CGI and what could have been really interesting, mind bending movies turn out to be luke warm and bland. And here is a director that always gets good scripts, good actors and carte blanche. Maybe he's lost his touch or maybe he was just overrated in the first place. Too bad.
Rating: -
Throughout the last 30 years director Steven Spielberg has delivered blockbuster film after blockbuster film, with very few stinkers along the way. His successful efforts are numerous, some even garnering Academy Awards in varying fields, he's managed to launch many actors and actresses from Hollywood's B-list straight to the top of the A-list, and also launched many of Tinseltown's most lucrative film franchises. From "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" to "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial", from "Jaws" to the `Indiana Jones' trilogy, all the way up to "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", Spielberg is a movie-making force to be reckoned with. With all of these hits under his belt, every once in a while he still suffers the occasional clunker, such as 2001's very expensive "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence". Audiences were disappointed with this film, and some wondered if Spielberg really had what it takes from a director to craft a successful futuristic sci-fi thriller. In response to the public's doubts, Spielberg returned to the realm of sci-fi in 2003 with the smash-hit "Minority Report", successfully laying to rest any doubts and fears movie audiences may have had regarding the veteran director's talents.
"Minority Report" takes place in the not-so distant future in Washington D.C., where for 6 years has been completely murder free thanks in no small part to an awesome technology that identifies a killer before the crime is committed. However, when the chief of the Precrime Unit (Tom Cruise) comes under investigation for a future murder that will occur within 36 hours, he has to fight against time and his co-workers, led by an over-zealous investigator (Colin Farrell), to prove his innocence or fall victim to the seemingly "perfect" justice system he helped to create.
With outstanding special effects (rumored at first, to have been taken directly from "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence", the rumor was later debunked), gripping performances from the entire cast, and once again excellent direction from a critically acclaimed director, it's not surprising that "Minority Report" enjoyed great success at the box office and on DVD. Roger Ebert summed up the movie best when he said, "It reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place." I couldn't agree more with Hollywood's portly movie critic, "Minority Report" is one of those few science fiction movies that not only entertains with outstanding special effects, but the story actually makes you ponder certain ideas and notions; such as, is someone truly guilty of a crime they have yet to commit or is there a chance that maybe they intended to commit a crime, but may have not gone through with it, therefore making them innocent? If that's the case wouldn't arresting that person on intent alone be unjust or merely stopping the inevitable evil that will occur at some point in that person's future life? Who knows, but it sure makes one think, which is what all movies should aspire to, and what all good movies actually accomplish.
This is definitely not a movie to be missed, and should definitely be watched by any sci-fi fan, and if you are a fan of Steven Spielberg but was somewhat disappointed by "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence", then "Minority Report" is the movie to see, as it will help you to completely forget about that previous failure of Spielberg's.
"Minority Report" is rated PG-13 for violence and brief language.
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