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Minority Report
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Plot
The year is 2054, and the murder rate in Washington D.C. is zero, thanks to information supplied to the authorities by a trio of pre-cognitives. But then Pre-Crime unit chief John Anderton becomes the subject of a massive manhunt…
Review
The best scene in Minority Report involves a major character gruesomely trading one set of eyeballs for another. It is a deliciously dark joke upon which to rest the action, for Minority Report is a movie concerned with new ways of seeing. As such, it gives fresh impetus to a growing suspicion about the world's most successful director: Steven Spielberg himself has traded eyeballs.
From the murderous visions of the pre-cognitive trio, to the retina scans personalising your shopping experience in Orwellian fashion, Minority Report is saturated with metaphors for seeing. But look closer, and each new metaphor also functions as a commentary on the hazards of movie direction itself.
Watching Cruise's cop, Anderton, conduct the Pre-Cog output, sorting through complex future images with expert waves of gloved hands, is how you would like to believe Steven Spielberg directs - musically, masterfully. But Spielberg, long removed from brash youth, understands that ultimately all such confidence is misplaced.
A little later, Anderton's own skill betrays him when he zeroes in on his own face perpetrating a future murder. Images in Minority Report are unreliable, subject to interference and editing. The gritty cinematography, once again provided by Janusz Kaminski, has the flavour of faded family photos and recurring dreams. You cannot quite trust it, yet the locations seem horribly familiar.
Do not, then, be hoodwinked by the film's atavistic 'Everybody Runs' tagline; clearly the marketing people at Fox would like the Jurassic Park audience to believe this is a breathless action spectacle. It's not.
Minority Report is a hybrid film noir, pitched in moral twilight and steeped in shadow. There may be no blue in the bleached sky, but this is not a standard-issue dystopian future. Nor is it a satirical cartoon in the Paul Verhoeven tradition. Indeed, Spielberg, that most apolitical of directors, could be the first visionary to fashion a near-future that feels distinctly ours - organic, market-driven and teeming with as much danger as promise.
The film noir structure is adhered to until the bitter end, even if the luxurious running time lacks the adamantine precision of the films Spielberg would most like to imitate: The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep. The denouement, during which the detective unmasks the villain, is classic noir. The action, let it be noted, ran out an hour ago.
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Average user rating for Minority Report |
| Spielberg is a master at making films of all genres, sci-fi is one of them. | |
| "Minority Report" is the 4th sci-fi made by master of cinema, and one of the best ever sci-fi’s ever made. Like any Spielberg film, from the technical aspects to the direction, everything is fantastic, as the story itself. The film tells the story of a futuristic world in the year 2054, there is a government organization called "Precrime". In this organization, the agents with the help of 3 humans with a special gift to see the future and the past called "Pre-Co... More | |
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Posted by Ralph25 at 20:27, 27 April 2013 | Report This Post | |
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| The best science fiction film of the noughties | |
| Sure, it has some flaws, but Minority Report is a wonderfully innovative, deliciously dark, visually stunning sci-fi noir that I consider to be a classic of its genre. Don't go in expecting it to be as good as Blade Runner, rather just sit and enjoy watching a master director clearly having a whale of a time pulling you into a complex and intricately woven story full of plenty of colourful characters played brilliantly by the terrific cast (too many to mention, but Farrell in particular was a wo... More | |
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Posted by Mr Gittes at 01:48, 12 April 2013 | Report This Post | |
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| Minority Report Review | |
| An intelligent and visually imaginative film that ranks among Spielberg's best. ... More | |
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Posted by the film man at 18:45, 20 January 2012 | Report This Post | |
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| Cateir de Pheniox | |
| Upon watching this is a film which I found very thrilling and although it does not hold the candle up to any of the former Spielberg classics it is still alongside A.I one of his best films of the 2000's ... More | |
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Posted by Cateir de Pheniox at 19:55, 02 December 2010 | Report This Post | |
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| Crap | |
| The one star is for the awsome cinematography. In terms of a quality adaptation of Philip K Dick, this is far behind Total Recall and light years behind Blade Runner. Cruise and Farrell are mediocre. It is only Max Von Sydow that truely inspires. Speilberg executes his so called "clever ending" so hamhandedly that it is both laughable and sappy. Put this one next to John Woo's Paycheck cause thats what Spielberg got. ... More | |
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Posted by bnicholson50 at 20:30, 16 August 2010 | Report This Post | |
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| Minority report | |
| Can't decide wat's better, This or I, Robot ? ... More | |
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Posted by elimonator at 02:13, 19 May 2010 | Report This Post | |
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| Generally good, but there was just something missing. | |
| Acting=solid Writing=solid Story=solid But none of these things excelled. The action scenes aren't that exciting, the tender moments aren't that moving and the twist you could see a mile off. However it greatly immerses you in its world. Spielberg is master of escapism. ... More | |
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Posted by Kieran94 at 20:12, 08 January 2010 | Report This Post | |
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| The ads around the mall are really cool!So is Anderton's watch.And Agatha is tasty when her hair has grown at the end. ... More | |
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Posted by The Gaffer at 22:47, 24 September 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| The ads around the mall are really cool!So is Anderton's watch.And Agatha is tasty when her hair has grown at the end. ... More | |
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Posted by The Gaffer at 22:47, 24 September 2008 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Very good film. Tom Cruise on top form. Great story, even though nothing like the book. ... More | |
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Posted by shool at 13:57, 03 September 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| e ending comes along, and as you point out, the obvious question of "What if something changed between the precog 'seeing' the crime and the crime taking place?" arises -unneccesarily in my view.nneccesarily? That is what the film is about. It is the missing minority reports, revealed by Agatha, that set the whole thing in motion. Also the ending, I think, is Spielberg's sneakiest. The cut between Anderton's halo lighting up and Lemar stating "Its all my fault" casts doubt on the re... More | |
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Posted by Helium Hunchback at 12:15, 13 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| L: SwagBag Did anybody disagree with the initial morals of the film? Arresting somebody for a crime they might do? What if something changed between the precog 'seeing' the crime and the crime taking place? All in all though, an absolute corker of a film and great to see Max Von Sidow play the nasty old man :) don't believe the film any morals (until the end) -nor should it... which is what puts it as one of Spielberg's best IMO (until the end)... It doesn't preach about right... More | |
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Posted by desibeo at 11:03, 13 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| L: SwagBag Did anybody disagree with the initial morals of the film? Arresting somebody for a crime they might do? What if something changed between the precog 'seeing' the crime and the crime taking place? hink it was ok though cause they sorta caught them in the process of the crime most times... like that man at the start was just about to kill his wife when the police intercepted ... More | |
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Posted by ednamode at 01:00, 13 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Did anybody disagree with the initial morals of the film? Arresting somebody for a crime they might do? What if something changed between the precog 'seeing' the crime and the crime taking place? All in all though, an absolute corker of a film and great to see Max Von Sidow play the nasty old man :) ... More | |
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Posted by SwagBag at 14:52, 11 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Who remembers in the 2002 summer preview issue where it had a reason to watch the summer blockbusters, for this movie Empire said "Spielberg directing Cruise, need we say more?"...That was class, had a feeling they were gonna say something like that as one of the main attractions for this film was Spielberg and Cruise collaboration ... More | |
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Posted by sl500 at 10:28, 11 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Sorry, i forgot to add this in, i should have emphasised more on the word i] enjoyed this. It was pretty formulaic and average but still thouroughly entertaining the first time round. ... More | |
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Posted by curtain twitcher at 14:27, 10 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| I quite enjoyed this, i saw it when it came out in the cinema and it was a good thriller and Cruise was surprisingly plausible in this film (normally i think he's shite) and the effects were pretty cool too. ... More | |
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Posted by curtain twitcher at 14:23, 10 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Awesome - one of the best sci-fi films of this decade, and of all time. ... More | |
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Posted by KnightofZyryab at 12:22, 10 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| I thought it was one of the best sci-fi movies around -until the final 5 minutes tossed the whole thing on the rubbish-tip marked "FORMULAIC & DERIVATIVE". With the ending as it is, the whole thing is second-rate crap I'm afraid. * SPOILER WARNING * (Sorry -not sure how to 'disguise' this spoiler in the way I see others hiding text -?) 2"]Tom should have died. The baddie should have lived. That was the only way to end it and for it to be a brilliant movie. ... More | |
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Posted by desibeo at 23:26, 09 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| brilliant effects and great story, loved the future world and all the gadgets in this movie. ... More | |
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Posted by ednamode at 17:18, 05 April 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| RE: Minority Report | |
| Absolutely. Dog's bollocks. Thoroughly enjoyable, engages viscerally and cerebrally. It seems to have been buried somewhat, but for me this is Cruise's best action film (unless you count Collateral, which I don't), seek it out ... More | |
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Posted by DGener8 at 15:44, 31 March 2007 | Report This Post | |
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| Minority Report | |
| Very very very very very good. Call me stupid but i didnt quite get it on the first viewing (i wasnt listening) Tom cruise has a strong performance. Definately buy/watch. ... More | |
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Posted by rockerjo at 12:27, 25 March 2007 | Report This Post | |
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