Minority Report
 
reviewed by Doug
Schneider It’s
the year 2054 and Tom Cruise’s John Anderton character heads a "pre-crime"
police unit that attempts to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes. At
the root of this are the "pre-cogs" -- essentially, mutant humans who dream of
future murders. By tapping into their "pre-visions," Anderton’s team can
swoop into a location and get the murderer before there’s a victim (or, really, a
murderer for that matter). These crime-fighting fortunetellers are never wrong -- but
occasionally they do disagree!
From the first scenes of director Steven Spielberg’s
new film you know you’re in for something special. This is big-budget Hollywood
filmmaking at close to its best. Forget Lucas’s Attack of the Clones, this is
the special-effects film of the year and it looks fabulous. In fact, with Minority
Report, Spielberg has created a near-masterpiece. However, his seeming insistence on
making this a by-the-numbers thriller that studios can sell to the average public
brings it down from something that will be praised in the years ahead to something that
will be applauded this year and remembered only in the back of people’s minds after
that. Too bad, because its potential is so great.
On the one hand, this is one of the best-realized
"futures" ever put on film. Ridley Scott’s vision in Blade Runner
has stood the test of time and I suspect that the visuals of this one will too. It’s
not completely original -- many will compare it to something the late Stanley Kubrick
would do -- but it’s good and it’s captivating. Spielberg’s future, a mix
of old and new, is strangely believable too. It’s fascinating and eerie as we
encounter a world full where privacy seems lost.
Although the excessive product placement is likely there to
generate copious amounts of ad revenues, it actually does help to flesh out a more
realistic world. There’s a funny moment when Anderton walks into a Gap store and his
name, or what they think is his name, gets spoken to him. While some may think that their
idea of using retinal scanning for personalizing advertising is farfetched, I beg to
differ. We’re seeing crude attempts at personalizing ads today, and I’m sure
that if marketers had these futuristic tools now they would be using them in a flash.
On the other hand, despite the strong story about future
crime fighting and the repercussions of invasion of privacy, Spielberg dumbs the whole
thing down by insisting on it being a paint-by-numbers thriller with elements taken out of
a made-for-TV movie. I shook my head at a crucial point when they lifted the old cliché
of having a bad guy reveal himself by inadvertently saying one thing too much. With this
much effort put into such a lavish and unique production, why did they employ such
unoriginal aspects of countless other movies? This is Spielberg’s edgiest film, but
he has yet to really push himself over.
Spielberg’s previous film A.I. was ambitious,
but in many ways a complete flop. Minority Report is much improved, and although it
could be better, it is still good enough to get a **** rating. |
