Mark Tucci's Minority Report review and ensuing conversation with me


Paul,

Eager to hear your comments on Minority Report. Jenn and I went to see this
on Sunday. We both loved it. I thought it had the perfect blend of
technology and story, unlike Star Wars that was all technology and no story.

This movie, while being sci-fi in genre, did not seem like a sci-fi film at
all in the same way that (again) Star Wars, Aliens, Total Recall, or even
A.I. was. This movie seemed more like a police thriller - similar to The
Fugitive set against a futuristic background. It was nice to see the
technology of the future used in a way that enhanced and drove the story and
plot, and not simply thrown in to show off the latest in special effects.
In fact, the whole film revolved around just one basic futuristic technology
and it's abuse (although I really wonder how long it will be before we have
retina scanners used as marketing tools. Some people I work with would love
to have that technology).

I liked the fact that this film kept you guessing, even after you seemed to
figure it all out. The multi-layered plot was smart and refreshing. Not
since Memento have I seen a film that challenged the audience this way.
From the very moral implications of precrime justice to the various
intricacies of it's corruption and the ultimatum at the end, this movie not
only entertained me but kept me thinking about it afterwards. Too many
films I've seen today become lost and forgotten within hours of leaving the
theatre.

I thought Tom Cruise was really good in this role. I liked the fact that he
wasn't too nice of a guy in that he was a flawed character, although I
thought the scene with his warped face reminded me a bit too much of what we
saw of him in Vanilla Sky, but oh well.

There were a few things I would liked to have had more fleshed out. I was
interested in learning more about what happened to people who'd been
arrested for precrimes and what they went through while they were "in the
tanks", but otherwise I thought this was a pretty tight and complete film.

I'd really like to get my hands on the Dick short story this was based on.
This film as it stands reminds me a lot of a book by Alfred Bester called
The Demolished Man. They are very similar. In Bester's book society is
full of mind readers and pre-meditated murders are extinct because if anyone
even thinks about committing a murder the mind readers will pick up on it.
The main plot of that book if of a wealthy industrious corporate tycoon's
personal challenge to do just that - kill someone and get away with it. His
target: the head of a rival company he thinks wants to buy him out. The
book explores some of the same issues as Minority Report, and even puts it's
criminals in similar states (suspended animation). I wonder how many of the
writers of this film have read that book. This is why I'd like to read the
short story - to see what similarities exist between Demolished Man and The
Minority Report. If The Minority Report is anything like Super Toys Last
All Summer Long (A.I.), then I'm sure the writers added a lot of their own
ideas into the mix.

All in all, much enjoyment was had, and Minority Report makes an appearance
on my top 5 list for summer movies at #2 behind Spider-Man.

Your thoughts?

-Tooch

To which I responded with most of the comments from my review...


Tooch -

All that and a bag of chips! This movie was fucking GREAT!

First of all, I'm impressed with the number of adult-aimed films this summer, and it's only mid-June! We have "K-19" and "Road to Perdition" on the way. "The Sum of All Fears" had some logistical problems, but it was very heady and dealt with weighty issues among adults in a smart manner. "Report" trumped everything playing the field right now. Take one scene for example - the fight with the jet-pack cops that ends in a kid's bedroom while he's playing the saxophone. There was ample room for something dopey to happen - i.e. a "Holy shit, missah! You done fell from space!", but they skipped it in favor of maintaining the established tone. This movie really, really impressed me.

I'm gonna rant for the website at some point, but had to write to you immediately 'cause you're the first person to speak up about this movie. I LOVED the look of the whole movie - practically devoid of color, even in the greenhouse scenes. Washed out in dark blues, greys, white and black. Gritty was the order of the day, and the jobs of these cops was just that, with no glamour lens to see it through. Spielberg's vision was just as you mentioned - an enhancement of the story. A complex looking world that never went - "WOW! LOOK AT OUR COOL SPECIAL EFFECTS!"

Again, I agree with you about the plot. Guessing, guessing and more guessing. The introduction of the 'minority report' as a total red herring fooled me. I also agree about Cruise. As soon as I saw the phrase 'Everybody Runs', I figured he'd be good, he ran so well in "The Firm". It really seems like he's giving his ALL 'cause he knows he's with the best director in the biz. He's really, really, REALLY going for it in every scene, and it pays off.

As for bad stuff, I see what you mean about the prisoner containment tubes. I do, however, like Tim Blake Nelson's description of their brains - 'inside: busy, busy, busy.' His character TOTALLY harkened back to "Blade Runner"-type influence. There were a couple of times that Williams' score seemed like a Williams score, but other times it was breathtaking in new and exciting ways I haven't heard from him before. Especially when Cruise was jumping from car to car on the expressway - that scene played out in look and music like futuristic Hitchcock.

Rob and I agree that we never trusted that Von Sydow guy since he was Death.

I'm leery to see anything till I see this again, but I may take in a double feature of "Murder By Numbers" and "The Salton Sea" at the cheap house on Thurs.

Later,

Paul

But Mark wasn't done


Paul,

Glad we agree on this, but I had no doubts that you would like this film. I
was just concerned if you'd seen it or not. I figured you had, but didn't
want to talk too much about specific scenes until I was sure.

I agree with you about the look of the film - very impressive and it really
helped to set the tone.

I loved the whole jigsaw puzzle way they had to piece together the murders.
I thought that it was pretty believable in a sci-fi sense rather than just
having everything handed to the precrime cops on a plate. It brought
traditional detective and forensic methods into this high-tech world and
grounded it in a totally believable way, I thought.

Oftentimes, when watching a sci-fi film, it's pretty easy for me to look at
something and think, well, I don't care how many years in the future this
is, that will never develop/be invented and in place. Take the flying cars
in many movies (Back to the Future II for instance). As cool as a device
they are, I think that it's pretty safe to say we'll never see them in our
lifetime - especially now after 9/11. Cityscapes are another thing I tend
to find unbelievable. You often see these huge developed skylines with
enormous buildings and futuristic architecture, yet how much have most
city's skylines really changed in the last 50 years (NYC an exception)? One
thing I liked about this movie is that there really wasn't too much of these
overdone future visions. With the exception of the mode of transportation,
the city skyline looked the same, the buildings looked the same, hell,
people even still took subways! It was just the subtle additions of certain
technology overlapping existing structures that was in place. And I find
that very believable, because if you think about it, that's probably the way
it would happen. We adapt things we've built to integrate new technology -
we don't start everything over from scratch when something new gets
invented.

I think this movie gets it just right. It takes our world and extends it
down the line 52 years to what is the most probable. Think about the
differences between Back to the Future II's 1985 and 2015. The 30 year
difference seemed too short a time to believe that that world would be in
place. The same with Bladerunner's 2019. Released in 1982 the 37 year
difference in time seemed pretty far from ever being reality. Things don't
change that quickly in society, and I think that this movie does one of the
best jobs I've seen at exploring what life would REALLY be like 52 years
from now - probably not all that different, we'd just have a few more cool
toys and gadgets to play with.

Speaking of gadgets, how long am I going to have to wait for them to finally
invent one of those totally submersive VR environment fantasy chambers?
Between Strange Days, 6th Day, Timecop, and Brainstorm, the porn industry is
really dropping the ball on this! This technology is long overdue!

Incidentally, I too was leery of the Max Von Sydow character from the start.
I haven't seen him in a while, but besides Death he was also Ming the
Merciless in Flash Gordon! Should have known he'd end up the bad guy. I
loved the scene where he kills the meddling DA guy in Cruise's apartment.
His whole line, "Shhh - do you hear that? Nothing..." was great, and the
no-win situation at the end was classic.

The other thing I loved about this film in the same sense as what you
pointed out with the kid playing the sax is that they never resolved the
issue with Cruise's missing son. It would have been too easy to have just
made that Crow guy the real kidnapper, or once they realized he wasn't, to
have had something stupid like Sydow's character behind the whole thing or
to have known who was responsible but kept it a secret so he could use
Cruise as a patsy, etc. In fact, I half expected the precog to tell Cruise
and his wife that their child was still alive somewhere, or to reveal
something that would lead them to where he was, etc. The fact that they
just kept this a motivating plot element and didn't drag it to the forefront
of the story showed a lot of restraint and in my opinion, kept it
believable. How many kids who've been missing for 6 years have ever been
found alive or even found at all? Kudos to them for not falling into a
typical Hollywood movie trap. Could you imagine how badly it would have
sucked to see some stand off with Sydow holding Cruise's son hostage over
the edge of some tall building? The kid stomps Sydow's foot, Cruise draws
his gun and shoots Sydow in the shoulder, forcing him backward over the edge
of the building where he falls to his death. Boy runs to Cruise's arms, Mom
suddenly appears on roof with them - group hug and roll credits.
The very fact that this scene was NOT in the movie made it all the better
for me. There were times when I thought it was going there, and I was
pleasantly surprised when it didn't.

One other thing that they touched on, but I would have liked to have seen
more of was the whole moral issue of keeping these precogs confined and used
as machines. Didn't those shots remind you of Raggy Ann in Give Me Liberty?
In fact, if I'm not mistaken, Martha Washington steals one of the three
before escaping from the laser cannon, just like Cruise does in this movie.
At any rate, I think there would have been more public outrage and protests
from various human-rights groups if they knew that people were being used in
this way. True, they touched on it a little bit with Tuesday Weld's
character, but in the debate about going national with Precrime, I think
this probably would have come up - in much the same way that the whole Clone
issue was debated in The 6th Day. Minor issue though.

One thing that Cruise had in his The Firm role that was missing here was
that he didn't get a chance to beat the shit out of Wilford Brimley, but you
can't have everything, right?

Anyway, it was good to see Spielberg return to top form after his minor miss
with A.I. I know you didn't care for that one at all, but I still think it
had it's redeeming qualities. The DVD has a lot of cool extras too, but
that's another argument.

Later,

-Tooch

More "Minority Report" chat with John


Paul,

Just read your latest review packet, and wanted to add some thoughts about "Minority Report".

I must admit that when Cruise's character began attempting to piece together the clues to the opening murder -- a murder that was supposedly going to take place in a matter of minutes -- and in the b
Although not quite "at hello", it was pretty darn close. And I'm happy to say he was able to keep me.

In my opinion, choosing that particular piece of music is just the sort of attention to detail that can make or break a sci-fi film of this sort.

And I'm not only speaking in terms of cinematic aspects, mind you, but also the overall quality of the story itself. The sci-fi genre is obviously fantastic, by definition... but yet I believe the s
If you think about "Independence Day" too much, for example, the entire concept falls apart: aliens have the technology to fly across the galaxy to take over our planet, and yet Jeff Goldbl
"Minority Report" was a breath of fresh air. Not since "The Matrix" has such a mainstream sci-fi film stood up so well under close scrutiny.

Compare the story of "The Matrix" to, say, "The 13th Floor" -- two films which were oddly similar in concept. The Wachowski brothers took the classic "world within a world&q
The later film probably had just as much promise in the early stages of development, but like "Independence Day", at some point the story got Hollywood-ized so much that it will fall apart
Now obviously you can't really judge a sci-fi film without taking into account its overall style and special effects -- two things that "The Matrix" also excelled in, needless to say. But
I suppose all I'm trying to say is that I agree with most of your (and Mark's) comments on "Minority Report", but wanted to add that I was very impressed with the film it on its most basic
So I hope this note finds you well. Please say "hi" to Karen, and toss Tiny Tony at the Weeze for me.

Take care,
John Prave

And more...


Preston,

You know, I'm beginning to think I should give "Contact" another chance. Patty absolutely loves it (we own a copy actually) but when I watched it, and I've only seen it once, I wasn't too
Basically, my beef is with the ending. I totally enjoyed the film until she went on her voyage. The opening segments with her listening, and eventually hearing the signal were wonderful and excitin
However, the minute she dropped through the portal, "pppppfffft", it all just deflated for me. I simply didn't like how they handled it I guess, and that final few minutes left me with a f
I guess I'd have to say that the film, for all its effects and alien themes, was really a simple character story. And Jodie Foster (who I think is one of Hollywood's best actresses) did an outstandi
Don't get me wrong here, it's not like I wanted E.T. to show up or anything. And I certainly didn't want to see a "feel good" A.I.-like coda tagged on the end. I was just hoping for a big
In short, I think that I hoped to walk away from that film feeling the same way I did when I saw "Close Encounters...", and for whatever reason, I didn't. I don't know. Maybe I was just i
That being said, I do have (to quote McPartlin) a HUGE Matrix Reloaded chubbie. I will tear that film apart with you any day. As you probably guessed from my last note, it's one of my favorites. I
But getting back to "Minority Report"... you know, you're absolutely right. The eyeball thing is a bit of a plot flaw. I had forgotten about that. But, as you said, during the film, I ju
And I totally agree that the "man chasing his own rolling eyeballs" was a truly classic moment. I've now added that to my other surefire comic equations:

Cheese + Pants = Comedy
Abe Vigoda + Anything = Comedy

So as far as "The Thirteenth Floor" goes... rent it sometime if you get a bonus movie or something. The noir-esque styling makes it kind of fun, and it is based on the same "world wit
So how does he make this monumental discovery that his world is bogus? He leaves town. It seems that if you drive in one direction far enough, the world just stops. Guess there's not too many trav
That sort of logic hole is enough to kill a film for me. The entire plot turned on this character's discovery. The eyeballs in "Minority Report" were just a device, really. They could ha
Okay, I'm going to cut this short since I'm at work and... um... am supposed to be working. Sadly, I don't think I'll be making it to homecoming. But hopefully we'll be out your way before too long
Talk to you later,
Prave

One Conversation from Steve


I just saw 13 Conversations, I actually kind of liked it. I thought Alan
Arkin was KING!! Should get a best supporting!!! I thought Matthew
MoConaghy (SP?) was actually really good too. Amy Irving, Tuturro, etc.
Well played. SLOW, but kept me interested. Not a great film, but good.

One Sentence from Carrie


Have you seen my big fat greek wedding? you must!

Mike reviews a movie I haven't gotten to yet


Men in Black 2: 2 stars: Groovy effects, some chuckles, but rarely a laugh out loud moment. It astonishes me that a film with such a wide open arena for sequels would go with such a weak story. Thin dialogue, trying waayyy too hard to be funny (which has a counter effect of course), I'd rather Tony Shalhoub not even appear in the sequel than to waste such enormous talent in this. his part in the first MIB was 1/10 the size and 20 times funnier. Overall, this movie didn't have near the vitality, originality or pace as the first one, but dammit it should have. A disappointment.

Marla on another flick I missed!


Paul,

While procrastinating, I decided to check out your movie reviews. I was
disappointed to see that you did not include the funniest movie of the year,
"Undercover Brother." I laughed my ass off when I saw it. It's just like
Austin Powers with black actors. Dave Chappelle had some of the best lines
I've ever heard. If you're not familiar with black culture, some of the
jokes might go over your head (orange soda, Babe Ruth). I completely agree
with your comments about Kristen Dunst. She is neither attractive nor
convincing.

Call me if you see Courtney Love around town. She fascinates me.

Marla


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