Tweet
Minority Report - A Review 06/22/2002
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise team up in a Sci-Fi thiller based on a short-story of the same name by Phillip K. Dick. Set in the year 2054, a special crime unit in Washington, D.C. catches murderers before they commit the crime. It works perfectly, until . . . .
This is a thought provoking look at the near future and what happens when "the system" goes wrong, and also at the way an obsession can leave us vulnerable. Not being particularly fond of A. I., I was looking for Mr. Spielberg to rebound with a film that was his own and not a homage to Stanley Kubrick. I am happy to report that things are well again in Spielberg-land, up to a point. Cruise (Vanilla Sky, Mission Impossible, Top Gun) is believable as detective John Anderton, the functional head of the operation and obsessed father of a missing son. Max von Sydow (What Dreams May Come, Needful Things) turns in a nice performance as the overseeing director. Colin Farrell (Hart's War, Tigerland) is excellent as the federal investigator looking into the legality of arresting someone without due process and the overall procedures of the force.
Visually, the colors in almost every scene are a washed out and dreary blue-to-grey-to-black suitable for the material and mindset of detective Anderton. The imagery is crisp and the special effects are the generally excellent ones we've com to expect from ILM - the control room scenes, especially - however, there were a few surpisingly bad external shots. Most notably those involvinging the traffic moving up and down the skyscraper walls. Ah well, what do you expect for $80 million or so?
Audio-wise, the sound is clean and well balanced with good use of the surrounds when appropriate - cars whizzing around, gunshots, assault ship fly-bys. Dialog was clear and intelligible throughout. The soundtrack is listed as DTS/Dolby EX but this wasn't in evidence at the showing I attended.
One of the action sequences was a little over-the-top - the fight scene on the jet-pack - with people crashing headfirst through walls without major injuries. Most though were thrilling enough to be fun but not enough to detract. Much of the movie however dealt with subjects not needing chases, like detective Anderton's drug problem, his guilt over his missing son, and the piecing together of a murder he is supposed to commit in 36 hours. Cruise carries these off well, but I was most impressed with Colin Farrell. Watch out for this actor - he has some potential.
While this is a worthwhile effort by all concerned and a very watchable movie, it left me wanting at the end. A couple of plot lines were left dangling - don't ask, I'm not telling - and the movie's hold on me, which was firm most of the way through it, started to loosen up at the end. This is by no means a disappointing film, but it's final impact wasn't what it could have been.
I give it :35: out of :5: stars.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise team up in a Sci-Fi thiller based on a short-story of the same name by Phillip K. Dick. Set in the year 2054, a special crime unit in Washington, D.C. catches murderers before they commit the crime. It works perfectly, until . . . .
This is a thought provoking look at the near future and what happens when "the system" goes wrong, and also at the way an obsession can leave us vulnerable. Not being particularly fond of A. I., I was looking for Mr. Spielberg to rebound with a film that was his own and not a homage to Stanley Kubrick. I am happy to report that things are well again in Spielberg-land, up to a point. Cruise (Vanilla Sky, Mission Impossible, Top Gun) is believable as detective John Anderton, the functional head of the operation and obsessed father of a missing son. Max von Sydow (What Dreams May Come, Needful Things) turns in a nice performance as the overseeing director. Colin Farrell (Hart's War, Tigerland) is excellent as the federal investigator looking into the legality of arresting someone without due process and the overall procedures of the force.
Visually, the colors in almost every scene are a washed out and dreary blue-to-grey-to-black suitable for the material and mindset of detective Anderton. The imagery is crisp and the special effects are the generally excellent ones we've com to expect from ILM - the control room scenes, especially - however, there were a few surpisingly bad external shots. Most notably those involvinging the traffic moving up and down the skyscraper walls. Ah well, what do you expect for $80 million or so?
Audio-wise, the sound is clean and well balanced with good use of the surrounds when appropriate - cars whizzing around, gunshots, assault ship fly-bys. Dialog was clear and intelligible throughout. The soundtrack is listed as DTS/Dolby EX but this wasn't in evidence at the showing I attended.
One of the action sequences was a little over-the-top - the fight scene on the jet-pack - with people crashing headfirst through walls without major injuries. Most though were thrilling enough to be fun but not enough to detract. Much of the movie however dealt with subjects not needing chases, like detective Anderton's drug problem, his guilt over his missing son, and the piecing together of a murder he is supposed to commit in 36 hours. Cruise carries these off well, but I was most impressed with Colin Farrell. Watch out for this actor - he has some potential.
While this is a worthwhile effort by all concerned and a very watchable movie, it left me wanting at the end. A couple of plot lines were left dangling - don't ask, I'm not telling - and the movie's hold on me, which was firm most of the way through it, started to loosen up at the end. This is by no means a disappointing film, but it's final impact wasn't what it could have been.
I give it :35: out of :5: stars.
David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker
Comment