Minority Report [2 Discs] (Widescreen) [Import]

yeah i thought it was pretty good, it did not blow me away though. Some of the action was really good and some was too cgi heavy that it lost me completely. The jet pack scene was awesome. The whole plot had some nice twists in it and near the end it really started to win me over. The first half however felt like a remake of an old swartzenegger movie kind of like the 6th day meets total recall. In the end though it does have enough of its own personality to come off as fresh and a cut above most sci-fi.

Steven Spielberg is probably the best known film director in america and internationally recognized and its
amazing the breadth of his film work. From movies like E.T. which kids really loved to Schindler's List and many films in between there is a very wide range and this film is probably his most difficult as he admits in the bonus it has a film noir element like a john huston film, but though it is long, it never fails to keep you captivated. The source of the film a short story by philip k dick and it seems a strange source a short story, not much to go on, and I have read all his work including his short stories and as I rummaged through my house I couldnt find it. He was a pulp writer in California and had a sad life, many unhappy marriages, and unhappy life, poverty, writing for little money. He produced many straight novels(which are enjoyable) which went nowhere and turned to sci fi short stories, which barely made him a survival living, and then turned to novels and He won a hugo award in science fiction and became a very popular mainstream writer dieing all too young. Interesting novels of his later years were A Scanner Darkly(one of his best)..and his last THe TRansmigration of Timothy Archer..it was said he had a psychotic
episode later in his life...which he claims was religious and there was some controversey with his family..but who really knows? I mention these other works..since this john huston angle seemed to interest them about a pre cog(which features in many of his novels)..sounds like the film BladeRunner, about officials in the future stamping out
crime by having a knowldege of it, and the movie is about people who have death wishes and their bizarre minds and worlds as we are invollved in the worlds of the three characters. The movie is well put together and builds up to a crescendo and a good finish. It seems to be amovie that was put together and Spielberg came in at the last moment to direct though I can be wrong. It is a smart comment to make that it has within the scifi future a prosaic element, the everyday world of crime, the darkness of the human heart still their in future worlds, and Dick's stories are never really happy the opposite, as he envisions police state worlds in which capitalism exists in a future dominated by technology and often a flight to interplanetary worlds..where the politics of today are played out on other worlds. I recall years ago Spielberg put together a variety show, I think Amazing Stories(maybe I have the title wrong) it was one of his few forays in tv programming, reminiscent of the 50's/60's twilight zone/time
tunnel type shows, and for those who recall these shows as he must have, it was much anticipated but it never caught on with audiences, but it does show a type of interest in this type of tale..and his knowledge of old films and how to make new films, with the talents of the old reformulated into today's storyline and visual extravaganza, which is a signature of his films, make shim one of the best in hollywood. Tom CRuise is along and a scifi film like this one the film is really the star, which he knows when making it, but he's good as usual. He's been around a long time but he seems young still, and he's always interesting and alive and brings zest to any film, it's usually a better film when he's in it, I dont know a star who gets into his roles the way he does but not so much here due to the future settings which often overwhelm the acting..typical for this type of film. A very good film underrated a future oriented murder mystery with some comments on the future...and maybe the present..on a sour note do we really need to hear all the nonsense about scientology and this star..and glamorize elsewhere all types of social background on stars which is light and seems to be accepted as relevant and ok?, yet scientology, a person's religion which really isn't a concern to anyone, is under attack for 20 years, someone's religious beliefs and is an issue at a custody hearing..I kid you not...what bothers me is presses stamping such drivel on the front page..when the opposite should be true it should enhance his image at custody battles,,if it was his ex would they say anything?, so why throw this curve his way..he seems disturbed as he should be , and we all should be!!

Minority Report combines an elaborate plot you can never really pin down until the very end, loads of summer blockbuster-type action, all sorts of nifty futuristic technologies and special effects, the star power of Tom Cruise, and the direction of Steven Spielberg. Given all that, this movie was virtually guaranteed to please audiences, and it does not disappoint. While the plot is loosely adapted from a short story by Philip K. Dick (who truly belongs in the upper echelon of science fiction writers but is still vastly underappreciated), it does manage to embody much of the sociopolitical questions and concerns related to technological advancement that animated Dick's body of work. In the world of Minority Report, set in 2054, privacy has basically disappeared. Retinal scans trace your every move, your mind is constantly bombarded by customized advertising (it's like having your brain infected by unlimited and infinitely invasive spyware programs), and you can be arrested and put away (in a comatose cocoon) for a crime you did not commit - if you live in Washington, D.C., at least. The experimental precrime unit set up in the nation's capitol six year ago quickly reduced the murder rate to zero, employing a trio of exceptional young people gifted (or cursed, depending on which way you look at it) with an uncanny ability to see murders before they happen - thanks to the milky liquid they lie in, their prevision powers are significantly boosted and translated into electrical data the precrime authorities can view themselves. Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is the lead investigator, and he interprets the signals of the precognitives' visions in order to locate and stop each impending murder before it can happen. Things are going very well - until the federal government sticks their noses into things. A national referendum will soon decide whether precrime will be adopted nationwide, and Anderton finds himself having to deal with an annoying little runt from the Attorney General's office - Danny Witwer, played by a silly-mustachioed Colin Farrel. Anderton and his boss, Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow) do not want their project turned over to the feds, but things get unimaginably complicated when the precognitives identify Anderton himself as a soon-to-be murderer. Anderton runs, anxious to prove his innocence and desperately anxious to understand what is going on. Convinced he would never murder anyone (especially a predicted victim he has never even heard of), he has to face the troubling fact that the precognitives are never wrong. His friends and coworkers now face the unusual task of going after one of their own, and Anderton proves himself quite difficult to catch.

I thought the ending of the movie was superb; in many ways, Minority Report is a mystery, and the film plays its cards pretty close to the vest up until the final few scenes. If you like action and dazzling special effects, you'll find that here in spades, but those who crave an intelligent story behind all the bells and whistles will be doubly pleased by this film. Apart from the heart of the story itself, Minority Report provides food for thought that you may still be chewing on days later - e.g., the whole privacy issue and the Constitutional implications that, while not really addressed in the film, come across loud and clear; then there's the whole matter of the isolated precognitives, three young people denied a real life in the outside world and forced to live and relive horrifying previsions of murders day in and day out. Tom Cruise turns in another sterling performance, and his character is remarkably human and complex, as the loss of his son six years earlier and the problems he continues to have adjusting to that loss make of him an incredibly human type of hero. I should also mention the fact that the film boasts several very funny scenes, serving to release the viewer's tension momentarily - that's a good thing because things get pretty tense as the story progresses and you'll want to be mentally ready for the twists waiting for you around the final few bends.

The movie itself runs almost two and a half hours, and a second disc features an impressive number of featurettes examining the origins of this first Cruise-Spielberg project, the making of the film, and somewhat technical looks at the special effects that bring the world of 2054 to vivid life on the screen. This all adds up to a DVD that will appeal to almost everyone out there who enjoys good movies.