Minority Report Review
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow
- Released: June 21, 2002
- Rated: PG-13
- Runtime: 145 min
The Verdict
- Tom Cruise is excellent, and the futuristic weapons and gadgets feel practical on screen. The world-building is full of clever touches.
- The premise raises questions the movie doesn't fully answer. One top cop stays on the run a little too easily.
Synopsis
Full Review (Spoilers)
Producers: Gerald R. Molen
The Good
Tom Cruise did an amazing job as Anderton. He brought physicality and emotion to this character. They did a great job showing why Anderton joined the PreCrime division. It was sad to hear about his son and how he was kidnapped from him while at the pool. In order to cope with this event he turned to drugs. This got him hooked on it but he still kept himself in a professional state while at work that barely anyone noticed his drug habit.
The futuristic weapons and tools play out practically on film.
The use of the sick stick was a nice touch to police enforcement. It’s a great solution to non-violence.
The halo made for an interesting pacifier. Once you have it on you, then it would make it a lot easier for PreCrime to move their perpetrator.
The insect robots had many recon duties. They scanned people’s retinas and saved PreCrime from going to each apartment to check each person. They were small and efficient.
A multi-touch capabilities when this movie came out was a very innovative idea. Instead of being stuck with only using one finger on your screen, you can now use two or more fingers. This increased the different capabilities of your device.
Augmented reality with hand gestures was an amazing idea. You rarely see anything like this in movies before the release of Minority Report. This technology was ahead of its time and now it’s available of different mobile devices. You’re no longer required to touch the device to do certain things. You can do it with just a wave of your hand or finger.
The plot for the movie was good. The idea of stopping crime before it happens is a thing that would make everyone happy. The fact that it was a test program was a nice touch. They wanted to find out if it would work well for one city and then try to expand it to the whole country.
The Bad
Each person locked up could have a minority report. They could have avoided killing their victim if they knew about it first. Anderton proved this theory at the end of the movie with Burgess. He pointed out the major flaw in the system, the choice of one’s actions. The PreCrime division would stop you before giving you the option.
One top cop was able to go around without getting caught for majority of the movie. He escaped capture plenty of times to make you wonder about the competency of the PreCrime division.
The Pre-Cogs could mess up and give you contradicting visions. They all have to be in accordance with each other to become useful. If you take one of them from the pool then the prediction of crimes becomes fuzzy and you’re left with mistakes.
Originally published on the Bring On The Reviews Blogspot blog on May 1, 2014.
Minority Report (2002) Cast and Details
Minority Report (2002) is directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton and Max von Sydow. It runs 145 minutes and is rated PG-13. You can look up the full cast and crew on IMDb. You might also like my Brokeback Mountain review.
DC's Hypothetical Corner
Let’s say I change one thing. Maybe that one thing will make this movie better or more watchable.
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