On M List of Movie Reviews

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Minority Report (2002)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 3/20

MinorityRep
3/20: I had wondered if Steven Spielberg lost his mojo after directing Saving Private Ryan.

After seeing Minority Report, I'll say that he's back but not quite in the same way anymore. Although it has a lot of interesting ideas that are along the lines of Blade Runner, the chief crime is visual overload. Had it been cut down while more time is spent on the plot, the movie might have turned out better.

Steven Spielberg is a master storyteller, but the final half hour is unsatisfying despite the intelligent screenplay. I just hate the ending, and I hate the fact that Max von Sydow was cast (no disrespect to him) because I immediately knew how it was going to play out. If Steven Spielberg could think about it more, he would've come up with a good finish, thus receiving a possible rating of '9' from me.

At the beginning, the film had me wondering if I purchased a bootleg DVD, but after looking up the internet, the washed-out screen was an intended effect on Steven Spielberg's part. After a while, I started to realize it's probably a good idea after all because that's what a sci-fi picture should look like for a pulp neo-noir thriller.

Although the eyeball replacement stuff is stupid, Tom Cruise is excellent and perfectly cast as John Anderton. In fact, he plays Ethan Hunt again, and it's been déjà vu of Mission: Impossible. In fact, Minority Report should be the second part of that franchise. Anyway, it's a interesting move to pair Colin Farrell with Tom Cruise although his character got wasted for nothing toward the end.

The primary theme is invasion of privacy. However, if the precogs can see the crime ahead of time, then why not educate the soon-to-be murderer and give him a choice? It's exactly what happened to Anderton. Either way, I don't think anyone should be arrested for a future murder unless there's abundant evidence of preplanning.

All in all, Minority Report is better than The Matrix because of how well it blends noir and science fiction together while showing lots of new stuff.