UPDATED!! Nordling Gets His Rave On!! Massawyrm, Too!! Last Batch Of MINORITY REPORT Reviews!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

Nordling’s what we call “family” around here. He’s an old-school TalkBacker/BNAT veteran/all-around cool guy, and he’s also one of the purest Steven Spielberg fans I know. E.T. has a special, poignant significance in Nordling’s life, and listening to him talk about The Beard, his love is obvious. When he told me he was going to see MINORITY REPORT early, I told him how much I wanted to hear his take on it. So... here we go...

Nordling here.

Everyone who knows me understands what an unabashed worshipper of Steven Spielberg I am. Before I die, there are only three people I want to meet – George Lucas, Stephen King, and the man affectionately referred to as “the Beard.” It was Spielberg that introduced me to the power of film, in 1975, with JAWS. That is still what I consider to be a perfect film. And Spielberg’s made a few perfect films. The man is incredibly gifted.

I’m going to surprise some people here and say that Spielberg hasn’t made a worthwhile film since 1993. Until now.

Shock! Dismay! But it’s true. Now, I like a lot of the films he’s made since SCHINDLER’S LIST, his last, great film. A.I. is a wonderful film but its flaws put it nowhere near the Beard’s best. AMISTAD is too preachy. LOST WORLD, the less said the better. And SAVING PRIVATE RYAN has terrifically great sequences, especially the first half-hour and the last 45 minutes. But as a whole film, it’s too typical of many World War II films. I like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. But it’s not on my list as his best work. I have my personal favorites that don’t rank on many critic lists (I still think EMPIRE OF THE SUN is an amazing achievement).

What are his best? Easy. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. JAWS. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (my personal favorite). CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. SCHINDLER’S LIST. Any director would be envious to have one of these films on his resume.

When Moriarty told me he had read the script to MINORITY REPORT and declared it tremendously good, I paid attention. We are both longtime Beard fans, and we got into very lengthy discussions of A.I. I thought it was good, with some flaws, but he strongly disliked it. It was still better than most of the movies last summer, and personally, I’d rather see an interesting failure than some of the so-called “successes” of summer 2001. But Moriarty felt strongly about MINORITY REPORT. And Scott Frank…to those not in the know about screenwriters, he’s one of the good ones. He’s written OUT OF SIGHT, GET SHORTY, and MALICE, among others. I’m especially a fan of his OUT OF SIGHT script, which pops in all the right places, and has one of my favorite exchanges of dialogue ever (“He don’t have to die, Foley, he could fall on a shiv…or my dick…” “I’ll pay it, no problem.”). So I was excited now, although it’s generally not difficult to get me buzzing about a Spielberg film.

MINORITY REPORT is easily one of Steven Spielberg’s best films. He directs here with an ease not seen since the early 80s, confident not only in the story, but how to tell it. It may be his best science fiction work yet, and yes, I’m including E.T. and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS.

STOP READING NOW FOR FEAR OF SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

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This is not a Spielberg that we have ever seen before. This is dark, gritty stuff. There aren’t many Spielberg films where characters chase their own eyeballs down a hallway, or have a main character be drug-addicted and still be the hero. And the film opens with a scene of darkness straight from David Fincher.

In the future, in Washington D.C., a test program called Precrime is nearing completion. A nationwide vote is under way to bring this “experiment” to the rest of the country. Due to Precrime, there has not been a murder in D.C. in six years. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is the head of the law enforcement division of Precrime, founded by Director Burgess (Max Von Sydow). Precrime involves three Pre-Cognitives, who can see murders before they occur. Pre-meditated murders can be seen 2 or 3 days in advance, while crimes of passion take less time to stop, there being no conscious thought of murder. These Pre-Cogs are held in a pool where the various officers of Precrime analyze their visions. The Pre-Cogs can see only murders.

John Anderton is a tortured man. Six years before, his son went missing at a public pool, and his marriage disintegrated as a result. The abduction took place before Precrime came into being, so John has no idea if his son is dead or alive.A haunted man, without any closure, he takes drugs to escape from the pain, and puts all his work into Precrime, to stop these crimes from happening again.

Because of the upcoming vote, Detective Ed Witwer (Colin Farrell), with authority given to him by the Justice Department, investigates Precrime for flaws. When he and John enter the chamber where the Pre-Cogs are held, one of the PreCogs, Agatha (Samantha Morton) shows a vision of a woman named Anne Lively murdered by drowning. After John begins to investigate, another vision comes from the Pre-Cogs – a vision of John Anderton murdering a man named Crow. Now on the run, Anderton tries to find out what has happened to his life, and he is in search of the secret of the Pre-Cog named Agatha.

This script is ACES. One of the best science fiction screenplays to come down the pike in many years. It’s possible it’s so successful because it’s not exactly a sci-fi film as it is a noir/mystery. As Anderton delves further into the mystery, we see that this is a world in atrophy. Ads aggressively market themselves to the individual. Invasion of privacy is as routine as taking out the trash. And yet not once does this world feel false – it’s intensely lived in. Jawdropping visions of traffic in future D.C., of retina spiders that identify solely by eye scan, of backstreet doctors who would soon cut your eyes out for a fee as look at you. It is a dark world, where lives are saved, but the lives aren’t amounting to much.

Tom Cruise is simply terrific. He is getting better with age as an actor, and he carries himself well. You mourn for him as well as cheer for him. Colin Farrell is basically doing the Tommy Lee Jones role, but he does it well. Peter Stormare plays a creepy doctor, and Samantha Morton is very effective and moving as the Pre-Cog Agatha.

This is not your normal Spielberg film. This film is not afraid to look into dark places, and when personal liberties and freedoms are more important than ever, this film posits the question: When does safety override our right to live, or to even think as we will? The film does not have easy answers.

The ending of the film will be debated for a long time. I felt the film could have gone one of two ways, and it chose the lighter way. I don’t have a problem with that. I felt the need for closure at the end outweighed the message that we already got throughout the film. But again, as Spielberg haters love to do, they’ll suggest that the film should have went the darker way. I simply don’t agree.

Spielberg is the man. He was already one of the greats, and this film just confirms it. He seems invigorated, fresh, new. This is not the Spielberg of ALWAYS or HOOK. It’s not the Spielberg of RAIDERS or JAWS, even. This is a director that needs to be watched, because, quite frankly, I have no idea what he is going to do next. He seems reborn, and I eagerly await his next film. I can’t wait to see MINORITY REPORT again.

Nordling, out.

"Moriarty" here again, this time adding the last-minute input of our own Massawyrm. I won't be seeing this film until Sunday at the earliest, and it's killing me. I can't wait. I can't wait. I CAN'T FREAKIN' WAIT!!