Minority Report

Minority Report is an intelligent, well-plotted and visually captivating blockbuster whose plot continuity unfortunately loses the necessary harmony in the crucial final third of the movie. It is also a purely commercial flick which, on the one hand, elevates mediocre entertainment to a higher level but, on the other hand, “wastes” the excellent subject matter and the creative talent of two brilliant filmmakers (Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski). They had the potential to create a once-in-a-decade gem of the genre. (03/10/2002)

[SPOILER, or possibly only an erroneous minority report] ____ The paradox of “Minority Report” consists in the fact that we are so accustomed to kitschy Hollywood endings that they merely amuse or annoy us rather than leading us to question them because of their formulaic and clichéd nature. As the reviews and responses to this film suggest, most people just throw their hands up at the end of Spielberg’s film, expressing that it is simply a typical mainstream flick with the edges smoothed out into total conformist insipidness supported by screenwriting crutches. But what if the smooth denouement and sugar-coated ending is instead meant to offend and provoke us? Perhaps we will start to question the final shot of the idyll with the cottage and the tractor as being blatantly illusory. We might realise that the final twenty minutes of the film have a different colour palette and lighting than the preceding two hours. Particularly obsessive viewers may then look for ten differences in the production design and costumes used in those concluding passages and the depictions of them earlier in the film. Did we seriously think that Spielberg would bring shame onto himself by being the absolute only one to adapt a book by the master of paranoid sci-fi into a form of a dull sop for the supposed majority audience? Unlike with Total Recall, this time we don’t get a literal statement that maybe something is out of place. Here the uncertainty is many times more subtle, because the vehicle for the Dickian twist is the intentionally applied Hollywood tameness, naïveté and formulaicness. After all, we should also be struck by the fact that the naïve ending isn’t conspicuously inconsistent with the bizarreness of many of the preceding passages. But perhaps the presence of these eccentricities alongside the exceptionally smooth genre passages steer us toward further uncertainty. What if the protagonist, and with him the film itself, had not let himself be merely lulled into a dream fulfilled, but had untethered himself from “reality” much earlier and had given preference to the improved comfort of the drugs? In any case, Spielberg made a fantastic and fascinating movie that, perhaps even more than other sci-fi narratives, remains reliant on viewers’ willingness to accept its rules and stop doubting, instead allowing themselves to be carried away by the motifs and ideas that it presents. (13/09/2023)

An excellent sci-fi crime movie that shows that Steven Spielberg is in better form than ever and Tom Cruise likewise. Breathtaking action scenes wrapped up in a story that makes you think about and follow the unraveling story with bated breath. The action scenes are absolutely top-notch. The part where John Anderton is being followed in the car factory is one of the best scenes ever to emerge in this genre. And of course Spielberg’s typical detachedness and gentle irony in places bordering on black humor. The vision of the year 2054 on one hand is captivating and on the other both desolate and terrifying. The gradual loss of freedom, commercials that address passers-by using their names, eye scanners at every step. Minority Report is a masterpiece with an amazing visual side (Kaminski is a genius), great music (Williams), brilliant directing (Spielberg) and excellent acting performances (Cruise, Sydow, Farrell). The only thing that I might fault Minority Report for is the last five minutes when the story fizzles out and slowly crawls toward the credits. 9/10 (20/06/2006)

A dark and visually stunning gem that deserves to be among the best films of 2002. The master shows himself in full form, confirming his reputation as one of the greatest directors of all time. Minority Report is a smart film, relying mainly on an excellent screenplay, which, along with the incredibly detailed production design and great performance by Tom Cruise, makes you forget about occasional slightly sentimental moments that are a regular occurrence for Spielberg. The visual effects are breathtaking, as is Samantha Morton in the role of the precog. The scenes with her are amazing and the veteran Max von Sydow certainly doesn't need to be ashamed of his performance either. Add to that a unique visual style, beautifully tinted camera filters, and thrilling action. Spielberg is still at the top. (25/10/2003)

Spielberg, instead of taking a moment to think about the lazy script cobbled together from the most unique ingredients and solutions, hired representatives from technology schools, companies, and organizations to give him an expert opinion on likely technological developments by 2050. The result is a very outlandish vision of the future, with giant talking advertisements, singing cornflakes, and funny spiders that crawl up under people's duvets whenever the cop of the great evil state waves his hand. It makes any 1960s sci-fi forecast look considerably more realistic next to it, whereas this is really just a relic of Cruise’s profile period. But it's a fact that I have to admire Kaminski for taking his penchant for analogue color desaturation to such an extreme in a high-budget sci-fi film that it ends up looking like a movie rip from 2010. (17/01/2022)