User reviews

This gets high marks for being an involving film that, despite a long length of almost two- and-a-half hours, keeps ones interest all the way. Being a Stephen Spielberg-directed film, it's no surprise that the photography is first-rate. This is nice-looking movie. Tom Cruise also was very good in here, not the obnoxious character he sometimes portrays (or did more often in his younger days.).

The film is a good mixture of action and suspense. Only the one chase scene was overdone with Rambo-like mentality of the good guys not getting hit when they should, and vice- versa.

The subject matter is interesting, too: what would do you (or the police) had very reliable information on crimes that were about to be committed, that you could prevent things from happening before they actually did?

I recognized two people in here who went on shortly thereafter to become recognizable in TV series: Kathryn Morris ("Cold Case") and Neal McDonough ("Boomtown"). Add Colin Farrell, Max Von Sydow, Samantha Morton and you have an interesting cast. I am of the opinion that this is one of Spielberg's underrated gems.

I read a lot of previous posts about this movie. This is one of the best films of the year, and of recent years. This is a perfect blend of action, suspense, thrills and film-noir. The plot is intelligent and fresh. People saying it is not original must have slept through the movie. Tom Cruise is fantastic, Colin Farrell is amazing, as well as Samantha Morton. Spielberg again proves that he is the master of cinema. A truly great director. I'll agree, the ending was a little too happy, but not worth complaining about. This film is not about product placement as previously suggested, it is simply a entertaining and yet realistic glimpse of what our future may look like, as advertising becomes more advanced and intrusive. The film creates many moral questions and issues, and should leave you thinking. Is being arrested for doing something you actually havn't commited yet fair? It is worth seeing again and again. As a film lover and critic, i can say it is one amazing movie.

May be this film has some flaws but while watching it I wasn't too distracted by that. Here we have one of the greatest directors alive (Steven Spielberg), a very big star (Tom Cruise) with a great ensemble (Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Peter Stormare, Samantha Morton, Tim Blake Nelson) around him, a good cinematography (Janusz Kaminski) and a nice score by John Williams all packed in a great story (based on the novel by Philip K. Dick) with perfect visual effects.

In the year 2054 murders can be predicted and stopped before they happen. If you were about to kill but stopped you are locked. Tom Cruise is one of the agents who stops those murders. Then he discovers the next murder they have to stop will be committed by himself.

I will not reveal more of the plot. The story itself is great. It is intelligent, but also exciting with great action scenes. The visuals are truly beautiful and perfectly support the sci-fi story. If you like action thrillers and you don't mind they are set in the future (with some futuristic gadgets) this is your film. 9/10.

I think some people just write reviews for sites like this because they like to complain. I actually find myself wondering if all the gripers here have actually seen Minority Report, as I just have, because I have to say that is one of the most gripping and involving movies I have seen in quite a while.

The content is amazing - all the little details that put the audience firmly in the middle of the 21st century. Personally I can absolutely believe that technology will have advanced in the kind of ways portrayed in the film within 50 years. Just look back 50 years into the past and you should be able to see why. The lives of everyday people in the film, where they are scanned and advertised 'at' all day every day, apart from an excuse for product placement (and why not?), certainly make you think about a world where 'they' know your every move (a future towards which we are already hurtling with some speed).

The style is amazing - why the wooden balls? Because they're cool is why. I like to think that as we progress as a civilization we will keep a few such elegant idiosyncrasies knocking around. The plastic, chrome and glass sets, objects and architecture all looked clean and functional and the way that they suck the color out of a scene worked well and gave the film a distinctive palette. The cars are the best looking vehicles I have ever seen in a film. I have only one criticism here - why do all the computer displays look like Macs? Surely a touch unrealistic ;)

The story is amazing - complicated, yes, but also engrossing, exciting and scary. There are elements here that are only hinted at, but which give the plot a depth increasingly lacking in modern action flicks. And it asks the kind of questions about morality, justice, exploitation and society that'll keep you thinking for much longer that the film's two and some hours.

The direction and performances are amazing - the pre-visualization on this movie must have been a nightmare and yet all the incredible special effects blend perfectly into a visual style that is completely natural and assured, as might be expected from Spielberg and Michael Kahn. There are, of course, numerous references and homages to the work of Stanley Kubrick, which have given a hint of the edge and flair of 'Clockwork Orange' or '2001'. I hope it will continue to be a big influence on Spielberg.

Cruise delivers a first class performance as usual, but the discovery of this film is Samantha Morton as Agatha. Who saw the film and didn't share her terror and vulnerability? Little touches such as the way she clings to Cruise, almost like a baby's reflex, make her a character you immediately care about, innocent and tragic.

Anyway, if that's not enough to recommend the film, then you'll probably never find another one you like again. But if you need another reason, go to see it just for another fantastic soundtrack from the master, John Williams.

Full marks, five stars, a must see several times and buy the DVD movie.

Steven Spielberg continues to channel the late Stanley Kubrick in his latest film, "Minority Report." He also throws in a little Terry Gilliam, Ridley Scott and Paul Verhoeven along with some Hitchcock and John Huston and the soul of Philip K. Dick to create something utterly unique. Minority Report dazzles with it's visuals, great action scenes, urgent story-line, and topical issues. To say any more would give too much away. This is unlike any Spielberg film to date. Not to be missed.

Minority Report is a scuzzy futuristic action thriller based on a short story by Philip K Dick.

John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is law enforcer in a pioneering Pre Crime unit in Washington D.C. He catches murderers before they commit the crime thanks to some psychics called Precogs who can see these future crimes.

Anderton is an ace cop who is also part Judge Dredd. He he also takes drugs. The after effects of losing his son in an abduction that resulted in his marriage crumbling.

Murder rate has gone down in DC and the system is about to go national under the leadership of Director Lamar Burgess (Max Von Sydow.) Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) is the Federal agent who arrives to examine the system. He is sceptical and is also out to get Anderton.

Anderton's world falls apart when Precogs saw a vision of him killing a man that he does not know. Now his colleagues wants to arrest him. Anderton needs to see if the system of pre crimes he believed in has any flaws. He thinks Witwer has set him up.

Steven Spielberg after his second Best Director Oscar win attempts to be a different type of filmmaker. Eschewing Ridley Scott's dark neon look of Blade Runner. He has gone for washed out colours and hi tech. Characters get tailored adverts but it also allows the film company to introduce product placements. Some of the brands ain't going to make it into 2054.

Minority Report is also a murder mystery with religious symbolisms. The three Precogs are seen as religious deities by some. One man immediately kneels and starts to confess his sins when he sees one.

The screenplay also plays around the ideas of Isaac Asimov. What if this perfect system have flaws and it can be exploited?

The movies works better as a sci fi mystery thriller. I just felt that the action sequences were tagged on, allowing for Tom Cruise to run like a rabbit. The clever scene was when one of the Precogs Agatha (Samantha Morton) guides Anderton in the mall.

However there are a few weak links in the narrative which resorts to cliches. Witwer begins to have doubts about Anderton's guilt but then he makes a clumsy error, surprisingly for someone who was also an experienced homicide cop. The comparisons to Judge Dredd makes the villain easy to guess.

The ending was also a little too pat especially when the villain is publicly revealed but still gets to have a showdown with Anderton.

Before they joined forces to give sci-fi fans their hugely disappointing version of War Of The Worlds, Spielberg and Cruise worked together on Minority Report, a near-future tale based on a short story by Philip K. Dick in which violent crimes can be predicted and prevented from occurring, the perpetrator intercepted before they can carry out the deed. Star Cruise plays pre-crime cop John Anderton, who finds himself on the run after it is predicted that he himself will commit a murder.

The good news is that Minority Report is a lot more enjoyable than the duo's H.G.Wells debacle, with an engrossing murder mystery plot, lots of great visuals, excellent production design, and some well executed and extremely fun action set-pieces, all of which help detract from the story's inevitable paradoxical issues and Spielberg's occasional, frustratingly unrestrained direction (Cruise leaping from car roof to car roof on a towering vertical road stretches plausibility a bit too far, but at least it's not 'nuke the fridge' bad).

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the 'sick stick' a police baton that makes the victim projectile vomit.

It's the year 2054 and mankind through the good graces of pioneering criminologist Max Von Sydow we're about to abolish crime all together. Von Sydow employs three psychics, no doubt the three best in the world and while it looks life is a pretty dull thing for them, spending all that time in water the better to receive images they're doing yeoman service to mankind anticipating murders to come. Right at the beginning of the film we see them in action as police are dispatched to capture Arye Gross as he's about to murder his wife and her boy toy.

But some disturbing images come in regarding police chief Tom Cruise murdering a man who he doesn't even know. Now Cruise is a Richard Kimble like fugitive and he hasn't done the terrible deed he's supposed to do. But one of the water bound psychics turns in a different interpretation of the images she sees. It's that Minority Report that Cruise is interested in so Samantha Morton is taken by Tom who wants very much to find out what's going so he can alter his destiny if possible.

I won't say more other than destinies can be altered and images can be manipulated and wrongly interpreted by some malevolent forces at work.

Cruise and Von Sydow and the rest of the cast turn in some fine performances for Steven Spielberg. And Spielberg's own vision of the future is fascinating. I did love those images of horses making a comeback as a method of transportation. I'm guessing that fossil fuels had polluted the planet enough and we wanted biodegradable waste once again.

Science fiction is always interesting, even the worst future films offer us someone's vision of the future be Steven Spielberg or Ed Wood. Spielberg at least has the talent to bring it off.

And maybe crime prevention taken to its ultimate is not such a good thing. Watch Minority Report and see how you feel.

This film has elements to it that could've made it a dystopian masterpiece, yet it failed due to its at times unrealistic writing and unamphatic character development and lack of deep conclusion.

Action scenes are great and the idea out there is pretty great it just has its missing pieces.

Tom Cruise is doing a good job as the leading action hero as he always does - his bread and butter.

Steven Spielberg sets Minority Report in the near future of 2054, in which the technology is advanced, but not far-fetched. Cars can drive themselves and ride up elevators, computers come with holograms as a user interface, and stores recognize you from your eyeball scan. As all science fiction fans know, however, the genre is not about technology but about ideas. The big idea for Minority Report is based on a short story by the venerable Philip K. Dick. In this future, there is a "pre-crime" unit in the police force, which revolves around three psychics who are able to see violent crimes before they occur. These visions are projected in a flat screen panel and manipulated by detectives with the grace of a symphony conductor. Equipped with futuristic stun guns, jet packs, and search robots, these cops then arrest and intern the criminals before the crimes are committed.

We learn all this in the first ten minutes of the movie. After this introduction, the plot really starts when Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) finds out that the precogs saw him kill someone, someone that he has never met. He finds himself in a race. With the forced recruitment of a precog, Agatha (Samantha Morton), he must clear his name before the predetermined murder. All the while, his old buddies, now helped with a special agent from the FBI (Colin Farrell), are trying to track him down.

Spielberg, with Janusz Kaminski, his cinematographer for many films, have crafted a visually stunning movie. The special effects are seamlessly incorporated of the world they created. The muted blues echo the style of black & white film noirs. John Anderton is similar to noir's morally ambiguous characters--a good cop with an illegal habit that is forced (by circumstances and desire) to betray the very things he loves.

But this is not just a special effects or mystery movie. The characters, all well drawn, are supremely acted by the cast. Tom Cruise is a good physical actor and he shows it here. By the way he sits or walks, we can intuit the grief and confusion that's going through him. Samantha Morton does a good job of portraying a haunted young lady who has seen too much. Colin Farrell skillfully balances the ambitious and professional sides of his character. As always, Max von Sydow authoritatively plays the respected father figure.

This is one of my favorite Science Fiction films. I would also recommend the following films. These (I think) influenced Minority Report.

"The Maltese Falcon" ~ film noir "A Clockwork Orange" ~ science fiction "Blade Runner" ~ science fiction (also based on a Dick story)

***** out of *****

Steven Spielberg is one of the few directors around today who can still manipulate an audience in one sense while dazzling and daring that same audience with storytelling and character skills fused with ingenious visual effects. Minority Report is a shining example of that, which also has the grace of having an intelligent concept to start with, which so many sci-fi films lack much less summer sci-fi films (look at MIB2 to see what I mean), and also better than average acting.

Cruise takes the lead role here as John Anderton, who leads, more or less, the agency of police that prevent all murders on the basis of predictions from three Pre-Cogs (one of them Samantha Morton who has the most important role of the three). The system is presumably perfect, until to the surprise of Anderton, he is seen to commit a murder and so starts his quest to try and find out if there is a flaw in thirty six hours. This could be the basis for average sci-fi fodder (Impostor, a film based on another Philip K. Dick story that came out earlier this year, is an point of that), yet Spielberg elevates a story and creates a unique atmosphere to coexist with his characters; by the time the film is HALF way through you'll be exhausted in entertainment.

Bottom line, this is the type of picture to see twice, first to get the feel and presence, and the second to clear up any misunderstandings in the plot (or maybe to avoid Scooby Doo and Windtalkers), since this is indeed one of the best pictures of the year and one of Spielberg's best recent pictures. Grade: A+ or A

In the year 2054, Washington DC is run by a new type of crime fighting system - PreCrime. Using sophisticated computer and neural technology, the police are warned of crimes that will occur (via "previsions") in the future and they try to stop them. With a 100% success rate and no murder in their jurisdiction for the past six years the system looks flawless. A coming vote, which looks very hopeful for PreCrime, will instill the system nationwide. But when Chief John Anderton, a loyal and decorated PreCrime cop, is seen to be killing someone in one of the previsions he suspects that someone set him up and that not everything is as perfect as it has been made out to be.

It doesn't happen very often that a big studio production with a big name star produces such a great movie. But here it is. Spielberg and his team have crafted an engrossing vision of the future that is not only good looking with its top-notch special effects, but thought provoking and actually interesting on a pure story level. Adapted from one of science fiction's cleverest authors the story is complex and thought provoking on many levels. Not only does it get you thinking about the possibilities where the film can and cannot go, but it will get you thinking about what you yourself actually do.

The direction is also among Spielberg's best with a terrific pace and nail biting tension in some scenes that almost recalls Hitchcock. Backed up, of course, by a great score from John Williams. The movie's vision is also great - the whole futuristic world is shown in what are not just money/eye candy shots, but shots that really place you in the film's world and take you for a terrifically exciting ride. Also of note is Peter Stormare, who has a brilliant, but brief, appearance as a whacko surgeon.

One of the best science fiction films to come out of Hollywood in a long while. 10/10

Rated PG-13 for violence

So - can you be arrested for a crime that you haven't actually committed yet? I suppose that is conspiracy - but this cleverly crafted crime drama questions even the morality of that stance. Tom Cruise is a policeman in the "pre-crime" unit who uses information from three people who are able to see into the future, to arrest the spiralling crime rates by intercepting the perpetrators on the cusp of their criminality. Murderers, rapists, bank robbers - you name it, and this has a profound effect on the crime rate. All looks plain sailing until Cruise "Anderton" becomes embroiled in a potential killing of his own, and his erstwhile colleagues - not least Colin Farrell ("Witwer") and Max von Sydow ("Director Burgess') are on his trail using his own techniques against him. Steven Spielberg has concocted a plot that, though complex, is relatively easy to follow with plenty of action and thriller elements that do exactly what they are supposed to. The ending is maybe just a bit disappointing - far too tidy for my liking; but Cruise, Farrell and von Sydow combine well to generate a fair degree of menace and suspense to keep it interesting. The CGI hasn't really stood the test of time so well and I hope Bulgari (amongst others) got their money's worth - I wouldn't rush out and buy one, but I would watch the film again.

It's 2054. Crime has been virtually eliminated from Washington D.C. area due to the Department of Precrime. They use three Pre-cogs to predict future crimes and arrest the criminals before any crime actually happens. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) investigates the precrimes. However one day, the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will murder and the system is now coming after him. He kidnaps the most powerful pre-cog Agatha (Samantha Morton) and discovers a flaw in the system. Federal agent Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) is on the manhunt as Anderton tries to prove he's innocent of a crime he's yet to commit.

The concept of free will vs determinism from Philip K. Dick is amazing. The production from Steven Spielberg is terrific. The movie is so well made that it maintains its tension with all the crazy ideas being thrown at the audience. Tom Cruise is the perfect protagonist for this movie. He has a touch of that boy scout with a dark edge. He matches the intensity of the material. There is a good mystery, compelling performances, and expertly made all growing out of a great story. It does wrap up a little too neatly. I'm not sure a Spielberg movie could have gone that dark.

I went to see "Minority Report" as a Philip Dick fan, not for Tom Cruise.

As soon as I heard he was cast, I knew he was either mis-cast or the movie would substantially change the original story. Ed Harris would have been a brilliant choice for Dick's intent in showing a mid-life crisis of faith with bureaucracy, and more logically setting up the conflict with his older (Max von Sydow as his usual craggy self) and younger (terrifically aggressive Colin Farrell) competitors.

In Dick's story the titular discovery is a shocking revelation of the bankruptcy of policy-making behind bureaucratic intent, whereas here it's just a means to an end for Cruise's character to clear his name. Instead we get an action story that grafts Dick's story outline onto a tribute to George Lucas's brilliant student thesis project "THX-1138," which he himself later expanded into a feature film; I always cite those films as the best visual analysis of bureaucracy. I guess Spielberg wasn't satisfied that we never really knew what the politics were in Lucas's films so he provides explicit reasons via a personal rather than systemic conspiracy theory for the chase and an optimistic conclusion.

On its own, we get a rippling Hollywood chase movie with a soupcon of the old "The X Files" paranoia, now newly relevant about our Justice Dept. arresting people, and even several laughs.

The cinematography for the future is wonderfully metallic and there's so many clever CGI's that the long credits list three "in memoriam"s to colleagues.

Lois Smith is very effective as a cynical inventor, reminding me of the last time an older woman made a key appearance in a sci fi epic, "Outland" in a role not necessarily written for a woman.

John Williams's music is interferingly bombastic.

(originally written 7/5/2002)

Steven Spielberg has made a couple of clunkers in his career, that's for sure. When sitting through Hook or The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, it's difficult to believe that the same man who made Jaws or E.T. or Close Encounters had a hand in them. Most of Spielberg's output, though, has been fantastic. Despite the occasional 1941, his films, even when flawed, soar above the average film. Minority Report falls into the category of fantastic and soaring, yet deeply flawed.

Minority Report is, above all else, an enormously entertaining film. I personally like actioners and thrillers and sci-fi, and Minority Report fits well into all these categories. There are a couple of action set pieces that are simply amazing, like the chase through the car factory or the spider scene. Unfortunately, in the idea department, the film is kind of a dud. Critics have immediately pointed to the politics of today to show how prescient Minority Report is, but no matter how large and powerful the intelligence industry gets I seriously don't believe that we'll ever live in a world where, even if it were possible to predict crime, law enforcement could arrest someone for a crime they were about to commit. And then, without a trial, apparently, they not only imprison the pre-perpetrators, but they encase them in suspended animation goo, apparently forever. At least they never say whether these prisoners are ever to be released. I mean, what happened to correctional institutions! And, what's worse, almost every perpetrator chooses to murder for reasons of passion since everyone knows that it's impossible to commit premeditated murder. That means that a man who was about to stab his wife and her lover with a pair of scissors - a horrific but understandable crime - is doomed to never see the light of day again (apparently). And I haven't even mentioned the time frame: this story takes place in just over 50 years from now. It specifically states that the ACLU still exists. Perhaps if the film took place a hundred and fifty years from now and the ACLU had been disbanded or something (with some heavy explanations in that department), I may have bought the story. The screenwriters never come close to making the situation believable.

And even if it weren't so unbelievable, the film has dozens of flaws besides that, and several poor, not very well thought out scenes. For example, the crimes are predicted by three psychics whose origins are dubiously explained. Part of the plot of the film is that this Pre-Crime department is supposed to expand nation-wide. The three pre-cogs are supposed to be the only ones alive, so where are they going to get others to predict the murders of every other city in the United States? These three only cover Washington D.C. I assume they aren't going to now cover the entire country (and soon, the world!). Okay, so maybe more exist. Perhaps I misunderstood that part of the exposition (which is generally very bad in this film). But if these three cover a populace only as big as the capital, they're going to need hundreds if not thousands of pre-cogs, and the three that they show in the movie seem to be so important and irreplaceable that the logistics of the project seem completely unfeasible. Then there's a scene where Tom Cruise kidnaps one of the pre-cogs to help him avoid the murder that he is accused of having been about to commit. First of all, you must know that the three pre-cogs are kept in a sort of sensory-deprivation chamber where they are suspended in a vat of liquid nutrients that is supposed to foster their psychic abilities. So Cruise kidnaps Agatha the pre-cog and escapes from the authorities in a ridiculous manner (there's apparently a drain in the bottom of the pool big enough for two people to slide down; the Pre-Crime division must have a hell of a time preventing the pre-cogs from accidentally being flushed in the first place!). Agatha, for the first time in a long while, begins to exist in the present. Then there's this scene in the mall, where she is able to protect Cruise by predicting every second of what's going to happen. She couldn't even do anything near this in the nutrient bath, and even there she could only see one thing: murders; but outside of it she sees every single thing that's ever going to happen. It just doesn't make any sense. And then there are the poorly calculated scenes. The scene with Peter Stormare (Fargo) as a black market surgeon makes little sense. It's completely ridiculous and also rather foul. The writers set up a whole history for this character, but don't follow up on it at all. And Cruise's whole backstory is very lame. Has every single individual who works for any law enforcement body had a child or wife who was murdered?

All the good stuff in Minority Report is technical. It's often beautifully done. Spielberg's direction is often fantastic. The set designs are miraculous - it would be insulting if it didn't get nominated for an Oscar in this department - as is the cinematography (a very beautiful, bleached look). The acting I would rate as merely adequate. Tom Cruise's character is not developed well enough, and therefore the performance isn't anything special. Max von Sydow, as nice as it is to see him in a summer blockbuster, has a very stereotypical role. Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?), as Gideon, the warden of all the criminal tubes, should have been axed. Nelson is totally wrong for the movie. The only great performance in the film comes from Samantha Morton, who plays Agatha. She is amazing at times.

Many critics have praised this, saying that it's a great rebound after the failure of A.I. That's so incredibly insulting. A.I. is by far the superior of the two. Overall, Minority Report is a fun movie when you're watching it, but the more I think about it, the more my opinion shrinks. I give it a 7/10. Good entertainment, far too many flaws to even count. I think I could go on for days pointing them out.

Well worth a watch. This has stood the test of time. Tom Cruise plays it straight as an officer in the Columbia District Pre Crime Division. Excellent special effects and good performances throughout.

Great concept, one with themes of predeterminism vs. free will, as well as the use of advanced technology to fight crime with the drawbacks of loss of privacy and potential for abuse. There are some pretty cool moments, but overall it's flawed in execution; you'll have to suspend disbelief too many times, and there are lots of groan-inducing moments. Maybe the biggest one for me is Tom Cruise's character weepily saying "I want him back so bad" in a scene about his son, and there are several others where Spielberg should have trusted his actors to deliver emotions nonverbally, instead of having them say cheesy lines.

For my taste, the film would have been better pared down and darker both visually and in tone. Think of what it could have been if it had focused more on the weightier philosophical or police state aspects, as opposed to settling for the sentimentality of a personal story amidst an excessive number of plot twists. Think of the possibilities for an ending with either a skyrocketing murder rate or an injustice, something ambiguous or chilling. Think of what it might have been like delivered ala Blade Runner (1982), which was also based on a Philip K. Dick story.

With that said, Spielberg targets a blockbuster popcorn movie and there's a certain appeal to that, and it's reasonably entertaining. I also loved seeing 73-year-old Max von Sydow.