Minority Report...

[Guest Mole]

I just watched finished this movie a few minutes ago, and it is a pretty good movie. Tom Cruise did a pretty good job, with a few twists along the way. Speilberg did a great job directing, one of the best films of the year.

 

What you fellas think of it?

[Guest DrTom]

The Review I Did For It

 

To sum it up: great look, good moments, wasted potential, Hollywood ending.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

I rented it too.

 

I liked it, although I thought it started to drag at a few points, and the ending was kind of weak and semi-predictable.

 

I did like the shots at advertising, but I think they might have gone too far with the technology advances (The flying police transports, the maglev, spyders..) but that might just be nitpicking.

 

All in all it was a good movie but it honestly didn't live up to the hype it got.

 

And did the whole navigate the computer with your hands remind anyone of the scene in Johnny Mnemonic or was that just me?

[Guest Mole]

Well, the technology all depends on what year the movie was based in. Does anyone know?

[Guest chirs3]

Dr. Tom pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

 

Looked swell, and had it's moments (very few, but it had them)...

 

... but for me, the hum-drum action sequences/chase scenes, predictable plot (with matching texas-sized plotholes), and a terrible ending (that took 20 extra minutes to get to) just ruined it. It's sad, considering how good it could've been.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Well, the technology all depends on what year the movie was based in. Does anyone know?

I think it was set in 2054..

 

Considering that if I live to 2054 (Which I better) I will be 72..I don't see MagLev cars happening in my lifetime..

[The Dames 0]

I also felt that the ending really brings the movie down. That's my only real gripe with it.

 

Dames

[Guest El Satanico]

I haven't seen it as of yet. Friend of mine has it and i was going to borrow it, but it's in bloody pan&scan format so i passed on it.

 

I'll probably end up not seeing it until it comes on HBO.

[Guest red_file]

Decent film. An enjoyable few hours diversion, but I have trouble seeing where the rave reviews came from. It was a sf movie that had a bit more of a brain than most. Or maybe I'm too hard on it because I was expecting more.

[Guest godthedog]

what's with this "great look" stuff? the 'minority report' that i saw looked dull (as in, the quality of the images was dull) and almost out-of-focus. it suffered from the same blurry, pukey problem that 'gladiator' did with not being able to focus too sharply on computer-animated special effects shots. and since there were so many special effects shots, the movie was left with almost no texture.

[Guest TUS_02]

Very enjoyable film. Colin Farrell continues to shine and his stock is only going up with his 3 releases in the next 4 or 5 months.

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

Fun and rather enjoyable for the first two hours or so, even with some irritating plot holes, before an absoultely fucking abhoring ending which pissed me off to no end.

[Guest SP-1]

I enjoyed it for some of the ideas it presented about what could be construed as predestination.

 

But other than that it had akind of a monotone feel about it.

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Everything was great up until the final minute or so, when they lost me.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

I found it decent enough, with a bad ending. Personally I don't think the story required a villain at all. The concept was strong enough on it's own. Granted, it would be a bit harder to explain certain things, but having a bad guy took away from it I think.

[Guest DrTom]

Possible spoilers ahead, yada yada.

 

I thought the movie should have ended when Anderton was put in the Hall of Containment. It would have brought the story to a close, and it would have been an excellent ending since the good guy actually didn't win for once. I disliked everything after that point, simply because they ruined what was a perfectly good ending.

 

Dick's story is MUCH different, btw, especially in tone.

[Guest Human Fly]

**spoiler**

 

Spielburg can't pull the trigger on a "sad ending" anymore. He should've done it in A.I. and he could've done it here with Anderton getting locked up, or Anderton getting shot. Some people disagree with a sad ending in a movie like this because you go through so much with the character only to see them not win out in the end. I would've prefered Anderton to get shot, that way he still exposes the flaws in the system, but at the same time everything isn't "happily ever after".

 

That being said I really enjoyed this movie. While some complained about the camera work in the movie I liked it. The blueish blurry tint over much of the film I thought worked well.

[Guest chirs3]

Possible spoilers ahead, yada yada.

 

I thought the movie should have ended when Anderton was put in the Hall of Containment.  It would have brought the story to a close, and it would have been an excellent ending since the good guy actually didn't win for once.  I disliked everything after that point, simply because they ruined what was a perfectly good ending.

 

Dick's story is MUCH different, btw, especially in tone.

Once again, Tom, you hit it dead on. This movie needed an unhappy ending, and where you said it should've ended would have been the perfect place.

 

AI had the 20-minute extra happy ending, Minority Report had the 20-minute extra happy ending, and Catch Me If You Can had the slightly more drawn out than necessary but not quite 20-minute ending... but at least AI and Catch Me were good movies, which is more than I can say for Minority Report. Methinks Spielberg is losing it.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

I enjoyed it. It was one of the few competently made big budget American films this year.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Spielberg HAD it? Christ, I'm missing out!

 

In all seriousness though, I enjoyed Minority Report a lot, although as per usual, the "extended ending" was annoying. I actually think the comment about there not being a specific villain is interesting. How else then would it be explained? Just a flaw in the system? If so, why wouldn't such an incident have occurred before? Chaos theory (is that real, or just from Jurassic Park?) would seem to dictate the latter, but wouldn't be as satisfying because then there'd be no bad guy for the good guy to beat to save the day.

 

I also never understood how anyone could premeditate a plan that involved murder without setting off the machine.

 

EDIT: I just realized the cynical ending I would've probably enjoyed that even works with the extended ending. Anderton discovers the plan, exposes the villain and the plan, but the people want to believe in the system so much because of its effectiveness that they kill Anderton anyway and cover it up.

 

EDIT2: What the hell did they do with the cryo-pre-crime guys anyway? If they were going to be incapacitated forever why not just save time and dignity and kill them? Maybe even Soilent Green 'em...

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Possible spoilers ahead, yada yada.

 

I thought the movie should have ended when Anderton was put in the Hall of Containment.  It would have brought the story to a close, and it would have been an excellent ending since the good guy actually didn't win for once.  I disliked everything after that point, simply because they ruined what was a perfectly good ending.

 

Dick's story is MUCH different, btw, especially in tone.

Once again, Tom, you hit it dead on. This movie needed an unhappy ending, and where you said it should've ended would have been the perfect place.

 

AI had the 20-minute extra happy ending, Minority Report had the 20-minute extra happy ending, and Catch Me If You Can had the slightly more drawn out than necessary but not quite 20-minute ending... but at least AI and Catch Me were good movies, which is more than I can say for Minority Report. Methinks Spielberg is losing it.

You liked A.I.? I didn't like it that much. I liked the first 30 minutes, but after that it got so depressing. I made it all the way to the end of that movie and felt drained.

[Guest chirs3]

Possible spoilers ahead, yada yada.

 

I thought the movie should have ended when Anderton was put in the Hall of Containment.  It would have brought the story to a close, and it would have been an excellent ending since the good guy actually didn't win for once.  I disliked everything after that point, simply because they ruined what was a perfectly good ending.

 

Dick's story is MUCH different, btw, especially in tone.

Once again, Tom, you hit it dead on. This movie needed an unhappy ending, and where you said it should've ended would have been the perfect place.

 

AI had the 20-minute extra happy ending, Minority Report had the 20-minute extra happy ending, and Catch Me If You Can had the slightly more drawn out than necessary but not quite 20-minute ending... but at least AI and Catch Me were good movies, which is more than I can say for Minority Report. Methinks Spielberg is losing it.

You liked A.I.? I didn't like it that much. I liked the first 30 minutes, but after that it got so depressing. I made it all the way to the end of that movie and felt drained.

Indeed I did. I was pretty peeved at the last 20 minutes, but everything before that was between good and great, at least to me. It was more the characters that I liked than the storyline, which wasn't too terribly interesting. It still shocks me how well a walking-talking-teddybear worked as a real character.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

That's true. I loved the Teddy Bear character.

[Guest IDrinkRatsMilk]

Chaos theory is real. I suppose it's a personal crusade of Michael Crichton's, cause something like half of the book Jurassic Park is the Jeff Goldblum character just talking about chaos theory. The movie Pi, while it doesn't deal with chaos theory directly, explores some related concepts also.

And yeah, probably just a flaw in the system is how I'd explain it. I find the concept of the movie very interesting, and I'd have liked to see the movie less as a good guy/bad guy action plot driven vehicle, and more just an exploration of the system itself, and what kind of world it creates. Like something Kubrick would direct. But he's dead, and Spielberg took it in the direction he chose. It turned out ok, but it feels a little like a wasted premise to me.

[Guest Mole]

I remember reading that Speilberg doesn't really care what people think of his work anymore. He is just doing films that he wants to do. You can't blame the guy, he has had great films and if I were a great filmmaker like him, I'd do whatever I wanted to do.

[The Dames 0]

Possible spoilers ahead, yada yada.

 

I thought the movie should have ended when Anderton was put in the Hall of Containment. It would have brought the story to a close, and it would have been an excellent ending since the good guy actually didn't win for once. I disliked everything after that point, simply because they ruined what was a perfectly good ending.

My sentiments exactly....I was sitting in the theater thinking to myself...."why didn't they just fucking end it there! "

 

Dames

[Guest DrTom]

I liked AI, too, right up until the shitty ending. It was a great dark fantasy until Spielberg had to let the sunshine in and ruin Kubrick's rather dystopian vision. Kind of like Spielberg ruined Philip K. Dick's vision by bringing the happy-crappy ending into Minority Report. It's like he has to clean up all the potential mess that a story might create, make sure perfrct order is restored, and moralize for the audience. It's a shame, really: Spielberg is definitely the best visual storyteller of his generation, and I don't think anyone better has come along since. If he'd grow a spine at some point during the moviemaking process, a lot of people would start liking him again.