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Mr. Babbage opens up the MINORITY REPORT for Euro-AICN
SPOILER ALERT !!
Father Geek here with a review from a long time contributor to our site from London. Be forewarned it does contain what some of you may consider SPOILERS, if you don't want to KNOW, then stop reading. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Now here's Mr. Babbage...
I caught a London MINORITY REPORT screening yesterday. This is my hastily cobbled
together review:
MINORITY REPORT
Cruise and Spielberg. The pairing of one of the most celebrated directors of
our time with the most consistently bankable movie icon is at least, a
mouth-watering proposition and at best, box office nirvana. I was lucky
enough to catch a screening of MINORITY REPORT at the mighty Odeon Leicester
Square in London. My immediate take? Good, at times superb, occasionally
bordering on the absurd.
Quick plot overview: Columbia State in 2054 has eliminated murder. It's done
this by employing the use of three 'Precogs' - three people who can see the
massive disturbances in the fabric of metaphysics (I shit you not!) created
by murder, before the crimes actually take place. Chief John Anderton (the
Cruiser) runs the action end of the organisation, piecing together the
visions of the Precogs using his own deductive powers combined with some
cool ass tech, tracking down the perpetrators of the crimes before they
actually occur.
Murder has been all but eliminated and now the Department of Justice wants
to muscle in on the action, taking the program nationwide. Enter Detective
Ed Witwer (Colin Farrell, the soon-to-be Bullseye in the new DAREDEVIL movie
if I'm not mistaken), sent to find the flaws in the perfect program.
Ironically it's Anderton who finds the flaw - the Minority Report. This is
where the visions of the three Precogs differ. Turns out that the
bureaucracy is in place to eliminate the differing vision. Someone is
eliminating the discrepancies. Innocent people are being punished for crimes
they might not have committed. The infallible system suddenly becomes
fallible. Once Anderton discovers this, he's rocked by another revelation.
The Precogs foresee a pre-meditated murder with Anderton as the trigger man.
Is it a set-up by those responsible? Or it is a true vision of the future?
Or is it both?
Now the movie turns into a 21st century rendition of THE FUGITIVE as Witwer
takes over the Precrime division and Anderton finds himself on the run,
Richard Kimble-style. Anderton has to prove that the Minority Reports are
true, and hope to god that such a report exists for his own future since he
has no wish to become a murderer. And so the chase begins.
There is so much to compliment about this movie. The vision of the future,
in terms of ideas, technology and even the cinematography itself is
virtually impeccable. The plot is complex (the précis above still omits
major story arcs within the movie) but is carried off effortlessly and you
never feel that the story leaves you behind. The movie is packed with action
sequences, yet hardly ever are they the actual focus of the film. Unlike
certain movies, the film is built around the plot rather than the special
effects as opposed to vice versa. MINORITY REPORT creates its own look, its
own vision, and what has been achieved is spectacular.
But what Minority Report isn't, is an action movie. Yes there are a couple
of stand-out action sequences, but any one expecting a futuristic MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE is missing the point. I came away with far more of a BLDE RUNNER
vibe than anything else.
So it's good yeah? Hmmmmmmmm. well, yes. I enjoyed it. Performances are
difficult to fault (even though Cruise is once again playing exactly the
same role as he always does), the plot has twists aplenty and isn't too
predictable, the special effects and the overall vision are superb.
But, the movie lacks a soul, it lacks charisma, you're more interested in
events unfolding rather than immersed and invested in them. And what
astounded me was the occasional glaring descent into slapstick and one
colossal hole in the plot, that simply cannot be forgiven. In true MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE style, Anderton has to break back into the Precrime unit he's
trying to escape from and gather Minority Report evidence. The way he does
it beggars belief. And the same plot device is used later on too as another
Precrime classified building is broken into. Don't the bad guys ever
learn?!? It appears not. It's impossible to buy it.
Overall? This is an enjoyable movie with an outstanding vision of the
future, but the holes in the plot diminish the credibility of the story and
the slapstick moments almost serve to defile the integrity of the greater
whole. Cruise is Cruise (again) and in terms of direction and pacing, this
is very accomplished stuff. It's like the Spielberg that brought us AI is
taking on the BLADE RUNNER era Ridley Scott and he definitely gives a good
account of himself.
Good stuff, far more challenging than the average blockbuster, and you find
yourself coming out of the theatre pondering and thoughtful as opposed to
the elation you may have felt after ATTACK OF THE CLONES or SPIDER-MAN.
--- Mr Babbage
*** SPOILERS
Things about MINORITY REPORT which threaten to ruin the entire movie:
Everyone in the future is identified with retina scans. Anderton evades
capture by having an eye transplant (don't worry, this bit is very well
handled) but keeps his eyes in order to use their retina scan to get back
into the Precrime building. You what? He's a fugitive for god's sake! How
can he still have access? Total bollocks. And then his eye is used to access
another super-sensitive Precrime building later on even though the bad guys
are 100% aware of how he did it last time. Unbelievable.
And the slapstick comes into the equation when Anderton drops his eyes and
they roll down a staircase like marbles! The audience couldn't believe what
they were seeing.
And another priceless moment. Anderton are Witwer are battling hand to hand
in a Lexus car production line. Witwer evades the robotic production
machines, but Anderton doesn't and finds himself facing certain death as a
futuristic car is built around him from the ground up. Eventually the car is
complete, surrounded by gun-toting Precrime cops ready to blast the shit out
of it. And guess what? Cruise just gets up on the seat, totally unharmed,
looks around at the cops and drives off!!!! Absolutely unbelievable.
--- Mr. Babbage
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+ Expand All
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Jun 17, 2002 12:09:18 PM CDT
Blade Runner will forever be the best cinematic experience, ever
by neutral_density
Cinematography in that film owns. Lighting in that film is flawless. The mood, ambience, punctuated by explosive violence will always remain the standard for all Philip K. Dick's adaptations.
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sorry...but i just have to write down my frust...can`t stop moaning ....aarghhhh!!!!!*sigh*
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Holy crap! They called it a masterpiece and were jizzing all over it.
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Jun 17, 2002 12:31:32 PM CDT
I didn't read this review because I don't want to be exp
by sod off baldric
All I can say is that I will be in the theater this Friday. I am VERY excited to see this film. P.S. I loved A.I. That is all.
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I'm willing to pay full price.
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Just a quick rant, and yes, I am taking into account that people on this site generalize and shouldn't be taken seriously 100% of the time: There are TONS of actors out there who look and act the same in every movie, but it is Tom Cruise who every time gets singled out as "being himself" all the time. What up with that? A few actors leap to mind as truly different with every role: Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Billy Crudup, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, and Robert DeNiro to name a few. But even the great Denzel Washington, the charismatic George Clooney and Will Smith, the iconic Harrison Ford and the I-hate-being-attractive Brad Pitt can ALL be accused of being themselves in every role. Before you all start flaming away, let me be clear: I am NOT saying these actors are bad, I love 'em all. I am NOT saying they don't have a role or two that differ from their entire body of work. I AM saying that every actor has mannerisms and patterns of speech more identifiable than other actors, and the ones I mentioned are just as recognizable as Tom Cruise, and they don't get roasted half as much as he does. End of rant, but I am not saying the reviewer is wrong, I am just saying A) Tom Cruise ain't the only one, and B) the world-wide box office doesn't seem to mind. I, for one, like Tom Cruise and find the energy he brings to each role makes up for the lack of original character. I know there are those out there who do not share this opinion, which is why it is called AN OPINION. See y'all at the movies.
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And the premise of it is great. I think that's why "Minority Report" is so promising - it seems to be about something and I think (I hope) it's written well. I like what I'm hearing about it so far - that it isn't an action film. When I saw the commercials and trailers, I was a bit fearful. I was like, "oh no, what's this?" even though it looked beautiful. But now that I hear it's more "A.I." than anything else, I'm hopeful again. Did you guys see that one scene on "The Tonight Show" when Colin was on? They showed the scene when Tom and Colin meet for the first time and just the dialog there, the presenting of this ideal Precrime system, was good. It was like five seconds, but still. It was still a good scene and just one thing about Tom, I too don't understand why he gets picked on so much. When he does try to do something different, he also gets blasted. People are like, "um, who do you think you are?" So I wonder if he can ever win? Not that I feel sorry for him really. He is like one of the biggest stars, so you know. :)
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I just read the spoiler mentioned in the review about the scene where Cruise has a car built around him and then drives off. I am laughing my ass off. If that really happens in the movie, that makes it worth seeing even more than the Ebert/Roeper claims of "masterpiece". It's the kind of moment that belongs in an Ernest movie. R.I.P. Jim Varney.
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I didn't read the spoilers, but this sounds good. To all you idiots out their, THIS IS A MINORITY REPORT TALKBACK. Not an AOTC talkback. I know AOTC is a brilliant film, but there really is a limit to how much you can admire it. Same goes for Spider-Man, great film, but you can't praise it ALL the time. Haha. If Minority Report really is half as good as it is made out to be, I'll be happy.
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Firstly, let's stop pretending AOTC was a good movie. It wasn't even a movie, if you ask me. Minority Report IS a movie. Whatever else you may say about Spielberg, at least he's still interested in telling a good STORY. Lucas doesn't know the meaning of the word. I think the reason some deluded talkbackers think AOTC was good is because they lowered their expectations so much after TPM. They knew it was probably going to be elephant dung and then were pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be cow dung.
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Jun 17, 2002 3:38:32 PM CDT
As long as this is better than AOTC and TPM, I'll be happy
by forest the gimp
Down with Lucas! Goddamn it, we should've known what would happen to the prequels when he made Greedo shoot first. I'm all jazzed up for Minority report - it should easily do better than AOTC at the box office. For a Star Wars movie, AOTC isn't doing as well as you might think.
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I want to be watching this movie right now. I'm taking Ebert and Roeper's words on this one. 'Minority Report' looks like it will easily be the years best blockbuster. Question: Why does ILM do better work on Spielberg's films than on Lucas's?
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Saw it last night. Even though Spielberg lost me after "The Lost World", and Cruise lost me as well after "Mission Impossible 2", I have to say that MR isn't as bad as I expected. It isn't very good either. Pretty lame all the way through. EXTREMELY predictable. Save your money, go see Men In Black 2 instead, I'm sure that it'll be more fun to watch. My humble opinion, anyway.
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One of the best things about summer, is going to the movies... It all Starts in May. ALL the supposed blockburster hit the big screen..One right after another, and it seems that lately they all have the same monicker when you read the news paper reviews, "THE BEST MOVIE OF THE SUMMER"... Who are writing these
reviews, if you don't believe me just look in paper at the movie listing and see for yourself...Is every movie coming out the best film this summer...I THINK NOT. I use to respect Ebert's opinion, until the big moive studios turned him into one of thier pod people, he's a walking corporate puppet. But not like Pinnochio because, he at least turn into a real boy.(Reference Ebert's glowing review of A.I) That movie
looked great, but it went on about 1hour and 45 minutes too long, but Ebert loved it.. Don't take Ebert or Roeper's opinion, Neither of them have ever made a movie that you would want to see...Not Even A x rate home Video. They receive alot fo kick backs and perks for their positive reviews... I hope Minority Report is Awesome, But I won't let thier reviews influence me... No Strings on ME!!!! -
-Accessing the main building by retina scan and them not changing it.
Perhaps they didn't know he would come back...or maybe they need his retinas to change it. He is on the run, of course.
-The rolling eyeballs.
I think it's quite funny! A gross kinda funny. If he is getting new eyes, it makes sense to me.
-Car being built around him.
I'm sure he's over exaggerating. I think he'll get into a car after it is built. I mean, don't present cars roll off the line right after completion? -
Jun 17, 2002 4:59:45 PM CDT
How in the hell do you know Ebert/Roeper get kickbacks? Where&#
by jackass
Yes...I am a jackass.
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Does anyone else see a strong similarity in the action part of the story to Logan's Run? I can see the pitch, yeah and then the hunter becomes the hunted, just like Logan's Run.
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Boss1, stop spreading misinformation. You talk of how you "use" to trust Ebert, and how he's on the Hollywood payroll and you cite his "glowing" review of A.I. as proof. That's just not true. Did you even see him review A.I. on his show, or read his print review? He said parts of it were brilliant, but the first and last thirds were weak. (I happened to think the 1st third was great) He gave it 3 stars which is only a marginal recommendation. That's hardly what I call "glowing." If he'd liked it any less, it would've qualified for the thumbs down.................... A.I.--3 stars--flawed--marginal recommendation. That sounds about right to me. Where's the conspiracy?
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The Guy just irritates me too much to pay and sit through his lameness. So nice that there's a shitload of choices to see. I'm way behind schedule. I'm looking forward to "Master of the flying guillotine" much more than M-Report, even if it had a different star. That's the next ticket for me! Then there's "Signs"..."Die another Day", "Two Towers"... Great F-ing year! "Spiderman" is the best so far :)
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I don't get it. Mel Gibson turns out one piece of shit 'Freedom!' epic after another, the high point of Will Smith's career is the good but not great 'Ali', Tom Hanks has two oscars that he doesn't deserve, Robert DeNiro doesn't even give a damn anymore. Meanwhile Tom Cruise's resume includes superlative work in incredibly cool movies like 'Legend', 'The Color of Money', 'Rainman', 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Mission: Impossible', 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'Magnolia', 'Vanilla Sky' and now 'Minority Report', and everybody goes on about how much they hate him. What other major movie stars have made smarter or more interesting career choices?
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Right, whenever you put in your hateful and sad little messages, dissing one film, praising another, or just "general"-ly slagging off people for their opinions - just read that oh-so lovely purple box on the right hand side. Bringing up messages about boycotting or just generally hating AOTC (or Spider-man if you're so inclined) is off-topic bs (that's "bull-shit" for the less gifted of you out there). I suppose saying this makes me somewhat of a hypocrite, but hell I'm trying to make my personal attacks not so blatant. My personal beef in the past was with the general and his "hate speech", mainly due to the fact that he hadn't even seen a movie he was so vitriolic about. I hardly read every article on this site, but the ones I dip into seem to be inundated with this shit. For a talkback on Minority Report I'd estimate little over half the posts are on the bloody film! Does no one edit these talkbacks? It's becoming really depressing... Just for the record, I loved AOTC, I thoroughly enjoyed Spider-man, I adored The Matrix and I really liked FOTR. Does that make me a bad person? Hell, it's my money and I'll spend it on what I want. I'm really looking forward to MR, Spielberg is one of my all-time heroes (just ignore Hook and TLW) and Cruise is always strangely watchable. I cannae wait.
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She said it had long boring parts, was predicatable, and the stuff with eyes was gross. Now, she's usually entertained pretty easily, so my take is this is a bad sign for the general public. Another AI that only appeals to the people who will themselves to like it because of who is involved?
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does tom cruise always play himself?? unless he's a vampire and a vietnam vet simultaneously, among other things, i'd say he's at least moderately versatile. bitch, bitch, bitch.
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does tom cruise always play himself?? unless he's a vampire and a vietnam vet simultaneously, among other things, i'd say he's at least moderately versatile. bitch, bitch, bitch.
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He is not that young...
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Or does all these future ships look just like the ones in The Planet Of The Apes? OneA know why people dislike Cruise? Because he's short and rich and gets to fuck(??????/) tall lanky women like his last two xxxx's. If it wasn't a Spielberg flick, I wouldn't bother seeing this. I wonder If there's a scene in this flick where Tom runs down the middle of Manhatten, Just like he did in the last few flicks he's been in?
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people just like to spark message board tremors. Thats why 99.99999% of posts are negative. Think about it, do people listen to you if you say hi, or if you scream fire. I dont even think most the opinions posted are the true ones of the poster. They are just trying to either impress some clique, or just instigate a flame war. These people know that a movie like AOTC has WAY more people like it than hate it, so they bash it cause the odds are in there favor to make a flame war. Most these people live off other peoples tastes too, they read a couple reviews that say a movie sucks because x and y, but because of that they watch a movie and ignore A through W and Z, just waiting for x and y. But hey these people think the entertainment industry and everything it puts out should service them and them soley. And the worst thing is they believe, for some reason, that their opinions are undisputable fact. That is the saddest thing of all, because they dont even rely on their own opinions.
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"OneA know why people dislike Cruise? Because he's short and rich and gets to fuck(??????/) tall lanky women like his last two xxxx's.".........Ah, yes. All legitimate reasons for hating the man. I was worried it was going to be something silly.
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Just read (or possibly reread, it's been so many years, who can remember?) MINORITY REPORT. Not a particularly interesting story by today's standards, but the core of it sounds like it could make a helluva interesting movie.
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