It is 2054 and for six years Washington D.C.
has been murder free thanks to the experimental branch of the
police force known as the Department of Pre-Crime. Pre-Crime is
an experiment in law enforcement in which perpetrator of a killing
is identified, arrested, halo'd before the murder ever takes place.
This all-possible due to the precognitives, who are three "people"
that have the ability to see murders before they happen. Their
visions are broadcasted for the investigators and two wooden balls
are produced, one with the killers name, and the other with the
victim's name. A brown ball means that it is a premeditated murder,
a red ball for a crime of passion. The would be killers are kept
comatose in glass tubes, stored in a room like papers in a filing
cabinet. However there is a catch, in order for the system to
work, the precognitives must be infallible. The political advertisements
that flash across the screen , assure the voters that 'PreCrime
Works!' and to vote 'Yes!' on a national Pre Crime initiative.
Detective John Anderton, who is still deeply disturbed and haunted
by his young son's disappearance six years before, leads the department
of PreCrime. With PreCrime about to go national, the pressure
is on and a power struggle has begun between Director Lamar Burgess,
the creator of PreCrime, and the Department of Justice over whom
will control the national program. Detective Danny Witwer, who
wants Anderton's job, is sent to investigate PreCrime and its
personnel. He claims that no system is perfect that there is always
a flaw, a flaw that he will uncover.
Anderton is the one who stumbles across this flaw when he becomes
interested in an old case, involving the drowning of a woman named
Anne Lively,after a strange incident with the female precognitive,
Agatha. The case has three major glitches; Agatha's vision of
the crime is missing, Anne Lively is missing and the captive killer
is a John Doe.
Before he can investigate further, Detective Witwar uncovers
Anderton's drug addiction and a brown ball is produced, with John
Anderton as the killer's name, and some man called Leo Crow as
the victim. In less than 36 hours, the precognitives say that
John will kill a man whom he has never even heard of . But is
it possible that there is a flaw in the system, that someone is
trying to set John up? Now John Anderton is on the run, determined
to clear his name.
After running from his own team and Detective Witwar, he finds
Iris Hineman, who is known as the "mother of precrime." She tells
him that while the Precognitives are never wrong, they sometimes
disagree. These alternate futures are call minority reports.The
minority reports are not reported but instead logged and hidden
away inside the precognitives head. Detective John Anderton must
now find a way to sneak back into precrime and find his minority
report to prove his innocence.
Great quotes
"Be careful chief, when you dig up the past all you get is dirty."
- Gideon
"How do I slow this down? Should I hit her on the head?" - Rufus
Riley
"The precogs are NEVER wrong! But occasionally, they do
disagree." - Iris Hineman
Minority Report is a film that not only holds the audience's
attention with its plot and action, but also with its ideas and
commentary on what the near future could be like. Minority Report
begs the question, 'do the ends justify the means?' Yes, Washington
D.C. has been six years without a murder, but as Detective Anderton
questions "What about all those people I put away with alternate
futures?!"
In the world of minority report, what little privacy the average
citizen enjoyed at the beginning of the 21st century has completely
evaporated. Police can see through walls, there are retina scans
everywhere, and machines called syders invade your home to search
for suspects without a warrant. For those who think pop up ads
on the computer are bad, how about bill boards that address one
by name as they walk down the street? Many have criticized the
film for shameless product placement, but this reviewer and no
doubt those who take the time to watch the special features disc,
can tell that Spielberg's use of product placement is a spoof
on the film industry's use of it. However after watching the film,
I did have the urge to buy a Lexus and then go to the Gap while
drinking a Guiness.
Director Steven Spielberg wanted to make this portrayal of the
foreseeable future to be as realistic as possible, so he had a
three day think tank in which he invited many of the great minds
in crime fighting, transportation, social services, and technology
to share what they thought they future would be like. Many of
the technological toys featured in the film are already in the
prototype phase.
Tom Cruise does an excellent job playing the same character
that he usually plays, John Anderton seems to be just another
version of Mitch Mcdeere, Jerry Maguire, or Lt. Daniel Kaffee,
only this time has a dead son to brood over and drugs to do! Hollywood's
latest bad boy, Colin Farrell is great as the 'is he bad or is
he good' detective Danny Witwer. Many of the best scenes involve
his character interacting with Cruise's, since both characters
are so convinced of the other's treachery and of their own competence.
For example, he reacts to Anderton shoving a gun to his face by
saying "Put the gun down, I don't hear a red ball."
Samantha Morton plays Agatha, the most powerful of the precognitives.
She blends seamlessly into her role, which consists of floating
about looking terrified or sitting around being serene and wise.
Her best scene is when she puts a human face to the precognitives.
She has just be abducted by Anderton and while she shivers in
the car she asks him 'is it now?' after he answers in the affirmative,
she replies "I'm so tired of the future."
Many of the most interesting and entertaining characters who
make the film enjoyable are the bit players. They steal the scenes
and make the story appear to be just back ground noise while they
perform. There is Rufus Riley, the colorful and slightly slimy
purveyor of a cyber bar which allows its customers to experience
their fantasies through a sort of virtual reality. "Take her to
radio shack" he tells Anderton before being convinced to help
him out. There is Dr. Solomon Eddie, the disturbed and disgraced
plastic surgeon, who was arrested by Anderton years before for
his "performance art." He gives Anderton the 'old pal discount'
when he gives him new black market eyes. Gideon is the creepy,
yet affable keeper of those captured by precrime. He likes to
play the organ for them.
Great scenes...
A very good chase scene takes place when Detective Anderton
runs and escapes from his own team. He jumps from car to car on
the "freeway," takes a ride on a jet pack through a kitchen ,
and gets in a fistfight with Colin Farrell in a car factory.
When sneaking back into Precrime, Anderton drops his eyeballs
and has to chase them down the hallway.
While recovering from the eye replacement in the tenements, the
syders, little arachnid like machines that seek out warm bodies
for eye scans are sent in looking for him. Anderton cannot take
off his bandage for another six hours for he will go blind, so
he hides in an ice bath. |