Minority Report

[CrvenBan]

DISCLAIMER: If you haven't seen this movie by now (no need for it cos it SUCKS ASS!!) don't read further, because I plan to give everything away


So, you paid money got into the cinema, bought pop-corns & coke, have your arm around this hottie next to you (secretly you've already checked a bunch of other hotties) and you're getting ready for a helluva ride, thinking this is it, movie of the year, lets roll. Well......WRONG !!

Story: year 2054 there is Department of Precrime, which can catch a killer before he/she does an intented murder. They get names, and some visions from 3 pre-cogs (2 bros and sis with paranormal, cognitive abilities to see future murders, or parts of it) which helps them find the location of murder. An agents shows up, starts looking for corruption and thinks he's onto something by the time next murderer is detected (main character).

Good things:
-sets: they look awesome, and are huge, giving the vision of possible future world.
-interface: computer interface in the movie is interesting, at least
-directing: at times, few scenes in the movie are excellently done, from slow moments that build up tenssion to the escape with a precog which is fantastic scene. Most of action scenes are top notch too.
-mystery: the story is obscure, with glimps of thing that will happen so you don't know much (or have to guess) untill the end.


Bad things
-sets: even if the look fantastic, the story is set in 2054 and set are totaly unbelivable. We know it's not gonna loook like that. Period. So even the vision of future is ruined because it's not put further into it. As a contrast to the Metropolis looking sets, with huge number of future-cars that slide up/down on buildings, there are slums with buildings that look even worse than today. Dirty buildings and rooms, with ppl that use todays household appliances in contrast with main characters high-tech apartment work really badly. It's TOO big of contrast to function. So you sit down and wonder, wtf ? If they have all that high-tech on one side, why is stone-age on the other side ?

-story: the story is so much flawed that it will ruin your experience once you start to think thing through. If you want to enjoy this movie watch it as mindless action (even if it was made to be mind-boggling thriller.

1. Names of victims and murderers are carved into unforgable wooden balls, from which later they exctract images. No chips inserted, only names carved....yet they use them to get out images. Ok...
2. Pre-cogs, ppl that see murders are said to be in a state between life and death, with their brains pumped with drugs so they're not aware of suroundings. They float in specially desined pool filled with some neuro-milk (or some kind of similar shit) so they live of it. Suddenly, half-way into movie, a pre-cog is taken out, and not only is able to function properly (apart from shivers in the begining) but is also able to see FUTURE events, as if she was clairvoyant. Not only that, but by the time they get away she's totally NORMAL, with a mind of her own, and (shown in the movie) able to predict future without need to sit in some pool.
3. Over-the-top-characters, and idea with this was to get that Lynch feeling where you have bissare characters showing up without any kind of warning. Here it falls flat, with lone eyeless drugdealer (urk..so lame), to a scene where Peter Stormare is playing surgeon that will give new eyes to main character.
Now, the good doctor was put into jail by main character some time ago, and was about to give him a surprise which turned out to be a pair of eyes from certain mr Yakamoto. Throughout the movie nothing happened with that apart from a GAP-store visit where holografic ad says to our hero: welcome back mr Yakamoto, did you enjoy the gowns . And that was it. So you have a doctor that would like some sort of revenge, and implies so even, yet nothing, and I mean nothing is done after that scene. Stupid.
Scene itself is also over-the-top with shitty apartment, rotting food, swedish nurse that talks crap, they're all dirty and disgusting....but it does not have a function. None.
Main character did get a emergency-injection to use in order to alter his face, which he used, and got through security...but it was said, and said really distinct that after that shot he'd feel extreme pain. Film goes like this: Character alter his face, enters the building, takes what he needs, and runs, all that with altered face. Next scene: he's in car, face is normal and he talks like nothing has happened. Stupid.
4. Mystery: even if it is intriguing story, there are too many jumps, too many found-it-right-away things, but as a mystery it does stand up untill everything is revealed, and you find yourself thinking: wtf, was that it ?
5. Once the female pre-cog is taken the rest is unable to function correctly, and the bad guy can plan a murder to frame our hero. But the thing is: he had to plan first set-up, which would end up in framing the hero and murder, so the pre-cogs should have picked that up in the very begining of the movie.

-Steven Spielberg sigh, I'm starting to hate this guy, with all his sentimental bullshit, he even ruined this movie too. There are few uncalled love/moody scenes that were totally out of place. and the ending, omg, what was that ? He fucked up a possibility for perfectly dark ending with his crap. At least that would make this piece of junk little better, but noo, lets end it in a Little house in prairie fashion.


Anyway, if you read this through you may have noticed I didn't like this shit at all, and I had to write something about it, cos I was kinda pissed. I could have done better.
If you didn't read it.....oh well, maybe you will.

THIS MOVIE IS SHIT

[destroy]

ARE YOU ON CRACK DUDE? this was the best movie I've seen in a long time, it always gets you going and thinking about the stuff that's gonna happen (I even went to see it WITHOUT getting high! HOLY SHIT).

[Annux]

I'm not too crazy about minorities myself...

[Epinephrine]

Re: Minority Report

Originally posted by CrvenBan
-story: the story is so much flawed that it will ruin your experience once you start to think thing through. If you want to enjoy this movie watch it as mindless action (even if it was made to be mind-boggling thriller.

1. Names of victims and murderers are carved into unforgable wooden balls, from which later they exctract images. No chips inserted, only names carved....yet they use them to get out images. Ok...

It's the future. They can do stuff you've never thought of. Also I don't think that the images were exactly inside the balls. The balls were only around for the names only. If you noticed, he slid a huge glass computer disk thing into the computer before he started seeing the images.

2. Pre-cogs, ppl that see murders are said to be in a state between life and death, with their brains pumped with drugs so they're not aware of suroundings. They float in specially desined pool filled with some neuro-milk (or some kind of similar shit) so they live of it. Suddenly, half-way into movie, a pre-cog is taken out, and not only is able to function properly (apart from shivers in the begining) but is also able to see FUTURE events, as if she was clairvoyant. Not only that, but by the time they get away she's totally NORMAL, with a mind of her own, and (shown in the movie) able to predict future without need to sit in some pool.

That's cause the old dude was trying to keep secret that the pre-cogs were actually real people. By injecting them with drugs and keeping them in a weird container, people would believe they were half-human, so questions about the freedoms and rights of these individuals would not be questioned.

Also she IS clairvoyant.. how do you think she can see murders in the FUTURE?

3. Over-the-top-characters, and idea with this was to get that Lynch feeling where you have bissare characters showing up without any kind of warning. Here it falls flat, with lone eyeless drugdealer (urk..so lame), to a scene where Peter Stormare is playing surgeon that will give new eyes to main character.
Now, the good doctor was put into jail by main character some time ago, and was about to give him a surprise which turned out to be a pair of eyes from certain mr Yakamoto. Throughout the movie nothing happened with that apart from a GAP-store visit where holografic ad says to our hero: welcome back mr Yakamoto, did you enjoy the gowns . And that was it. So you have a doctor that would like some sort of revenge, and implies so even, yet nothing, and I mean nothing is done after that scene. Stupid.
Scene itself is also over-the-top with shitty apartment, rotting food, swedish nurse that talks crap, they're all dirty and disgusting....but it does not have a function. None.
Main character did get a emergency-injection to use in order to alter his face, which he used, and got through security...but it was said, and said really distinct that after that shot he'd feel extreme pain. Film goes like this: Character alter his face, enters the building, takes what he needs, and runs, all that with altered face. Next scene: he's in car, face is normal and he talks like nothing has happened. Stupid.

Was Mr. Yakamoto mentioned earlier in the movie? I forget.. but yeah this scene was sorta pointless. But still it set up the spider scene which was just so damn cool

4. Mystery: even if it is intriguing story, there are too many jumps, too many found-it-right-away things, but as a mystery it does stand up untill everything is revealed, and you find yourself thinking: wtf, was that it ?

I liked it :P

5. Once the female pre-cog is taken the rest is unable to function correctly, and the bad guy can plan a murder to frame our hero. But the thing is: he had to plan first set-up, which would end up in framing the hero and murder, so the pre-cogs should have picked that up in the very begining of the movie.

They can only see so accurately into the future. And after all the old guy never did pull the trigger, Tom Cruise did. The Pre-Cogs in their drug-induced state can only see stuff so accurately.

Bleh I liked this movie a lot :P

-Epi

[Yoshiba]

Originally posted by destroy
(I even went to see it WITHOUT getting high! HOLY SHIT).

what???? getting high while or before you see a movie is the only way to do it, it makes it more ejoyable the second and even third time, because there are parts you dont remember and stuff thats still funny the fifth time around... i dunno i guess its fine to not get high and see a movie, but it makes it so much funnier. when i watch comedians when im stoned theyre like 10 times funnier. my 2 cents newayz

[CrvenBan]

Re: Re: Minority Report

Originally posted by Epinephrine


That's cause the old dude was trying to keep secret that the pre-cogs were actually real people. By injecting them with drugs and keeping them in a weird container, people would believe they were half-human, so questions about the freedoms and rights of these individuals would not be questioned.

Also she IS clairvoyant.. how do you think she can see murders in the FUTURE?

-Epi

As I watched it I remeber them saying pre-cogs could only pick up parts of murders due to their nature (same with passion murders that they weren't able to pick "in time"). They had that kind of nightmares that gave murders away, it has been said. Not that they had ability to predict future (I know that seeing murders falls into predicting future but it isn't same).
And then they had them pumped with drugs, saying they can't feel a thing. She wouldn't be able to open her eyes for day at least if she had that kind/type of drugs in her.
Even that old flower-lady said they were born with severe brain damage. So pre-cogs should not qualify as functional humans.
I kinda excpected smarter movie; if it stared Stalone, I wouldn't care much, but they wanted to make smart thriller, and in my eyes failed.

But than again, that's just me.

[destroy]

Originally posted by Yoshiba


what???? getting high while or before you see a movie is the only way to do it

I agree, I didn't get high cause I arrived late in the theatre, but I still enjoyed the movie.

THIS IS A GOOD MOVIE

[Tigerex]

Before the end of the movie i guessed that the guy he was supposed to kill would habve been the one who abducted his son. When they got round to it i was suprised by the plot twist and i thawt "Very clever"! Then it went on....and on....and on! I was left thinking, yeh sure an alright movie but it should of ended when the final scene would of been worth watching...

[IlyaG]

As far as action/adventure/thriller movies go, Minority Report is WAY UP THERE next to Terminator 2, Total Recall, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Aliens, etc. Plus, it's probably the most intelligent of the bunch, with a thought-provoking storyline.

Minority Report makes The Matrix look like low-budget shit.

You're entitled to your own opinion, but you belong to a MINORITY of people who saw Minority Report. For once, I agree with the concensus of the movie-going public -- this movie is the best adventure film you'll see this year, and one of the best thrillers of all time.

[eRad]

I thought the movie was great. I have pretty high standards as there is a lot of shit to filter out in american films but this was certainly one of the better.

the plot twists were cool, misleading the audience left and right..

also looked at fundamental issues that society would deal with in the future.. instead of just assuming it will be some sort of high-tech paradise

i dunno, i liked it.

[iNgeNfyRe]

i couldnt figure out what they were saying with "pre conc" or "pre calcs" or "pre cong"

anyways, it was pretty good and confusing since it kept me awake when i saw it the night before it came out $$$

[JohnCho]

I believe it.

As they say, at the end of the movie, everything was knit into a nice little package.

2054... is it that hard to imagine all that?
In the 1940's would anyone know computers and machines would become a human neccesity? Would they have known the least bit OF computers? Without Ford making the car or the Wright brothers, would we have the luxury of having what they invented today, or would someone just come up with something better? I believe the basis for the future is in the past.

1. They use wooden balls becuase the grains are unforgable. They do live in the future, so maybe going back to old techniques will work better than chips and misc? I mean, it is 2054 =o]
Plus, did you see the abundance of trees throughout the movie? Nope. It might mean that the wood is a very expensive material, showing the importance of each pre-cog vision.

2. I belive she is normal. The reason for the drugs was to dull the pain from all the visions.

3. Maybe that scene just wants to show a "normal" day in the future. I thought the shot only altered his face for a brief moment... was it 30 or less minutes?

4. Personally, I would have still thought the movie was well scripted if it ended where he caught up with the present (the vision of John's murder scene) Of course I was delighted to see that there was more.

5. Maybe they did not see it because John did not kill him?

I enjoyed the movie, but I do admit, Steven has made his share of bad movies. Anyone see AI? Good movie, up until the end. I think it would have been better if it ended when the little boy jumped into the water and died... or deactivated.. malfunctions.

Also, I wanted to add that the sci-fi surroundings were impressive, but was not the main push of the movie (unlike such movies as final fantasy... what a pity) but a helpful tool for a viewer to get a feeling of the "future" in addtion to how the plot and mood is set up.

CrvenBan, you did make an interesting argument that made me think too. As a final note, you say you thought this movie was... lets just say terrible, but you seemed to take in minor & major details alike. Very analytical... almost like you watched it several times...Why is that?

[CrvenBan]

Still hatin' it

Hehe, thing is, I only watched it once, and those were things I could remember at that time. Other than that, I've been a movie fan for at least 6-7 years, and managed to see/buy at least a few I've read Asimov, Clarke, Lem, so I know my sci-fi.

And I did have higher excpectations for this one because it was based on a good novel (that guy wrote novel that they based Blade Runner on), done by Spielberg and had great cast, Cruise, Farrel, Sydow, Stormare. Furthermore it was not supposed to be Mission: Impossible (sci-fi theme), but a smart, dark thriller. So I went in totally focused, ready to catch any detail, and get even bigger enjoyment out of a movie.

It starts good, and then you get first drawn out emotional scene which is just lame. It is. Movie goes on, and you realize that sub-plots are there to get more time to go by, beacuse they have ZERO relevance to the movie itself. Characters are shallow; Farrels character (that Justice department cop) is so undeveloped that I didn't care at all that he got shot (example of how movie can fail to grab you), Cruise is riding his emotional roller-coaster (even though it has been 6 years since.....and try to compare that with ie John Woo's Face/Off, and the way he made flash-backs, memories of child loss play role) but you don't get involved as a spectator. Frankly, I didn't care for his problems, or drug-abuse...I just wanted to see more action at that point, so basically movie turned from being a "thinkers-movie" to Stalone-flick filled with clichés:
-the tormented good guy, who would not participate in this movie at all if he only could get back his lost loved
-the nosey good cop, that blames the good guy at first, only to later find proof for his inocence and dies before he can reveal everything (cos he talked to the wrong person)
-the mystical woman who provides valubale information needed for plot to continue
-the good wife that rescues her husband, and even though she's an artist she knows how to use a gun and is not afraid to shoot a guard.
-the bad guy who gives away himself (after all that trouble he went through for concieding everything) by saying ONE WORD wrong
-the good wife who picks that word up, and is able to find the real villan
-the villan reborn
-happy ending

The view of future in the movie can be discussed, because it could happen, but is rather doubtfull. But that's artistical freedom, so I'll let him have it.
Ending is awful, you know it should be dark ending instead of that sentimental crap.

The only great scene: pre-cogs escape. That was smooth stuff. Other than that, dunno, didn't like it.



Not same sort of movie, but for good characters, and grabbing movie, go see Requiem for a dream.

[IlyaG]

Would you enjoy the movie more if Spielberg, at the last moment, did NOT change his original ending?

The script at the end is basically like this:

As the camera pulls back from the house with the pre-cogs, Anderton narrates about how the prisoners were released, with some of them being carefully watched for years to come. At this point, the movie ends... but the script has one more line:

"The following year, there were 200 murders in Washington, D.C."

Makes you think, doesn't it. I know why he changed that. He wanted the movie to justify the need for privacy and justify the fact that PreCrime was shut down. But that one line would've made the majority of people think: Privacy and enslavement of three human beings is a small price to pay to save hundreds of others. But anyone with any brains at all would figure out that without PreCrime, murder would again become a major cause of death. Would that one line make you understand the point of the film more? The point you obviously missed?

[CrvenBan]

Ilya....you can't tell me that a film, who was done in such a bad way that it barely justified watching it through, should be any better with just one line. It didn't say that at the end of the movie, I don't care what scrpitwriter, and writers had in mind, I am talking about finished product. And as such, this movie blows.
I am not talking about the message of the movie either, or point of the movie, because we can take that discussion to a whole other level. Who has rights on what, privacy of individuals, gene-pools. No. Forget about that.

Main goal of the movie was to make you think. It made me watch for flaws because it was badly done (something I wouldnt' excpect from type of Spielberg). But then again it is just me, you are intitled to adore this movie if you want to.