Laura’s Rating: 3/5 Stars
Minority Report poses a fantastic moral dilemma and takes place in an interesting futuristic world. Knowing the premise, I was excited to watch this movie, but it came up a bit short of my expectations.
The Analysis:
Minority Report has a vibe similar to Bladerunner: a modern yet worn out and depressing city. Technology is juxtaposed with dark alleys, poverty, and old forgotten buildings. All of the futuristic elements and technology does not come off dated or cheesy, despite nearly 2 decades having passed since the movie’s release in 2002.
I absolutely love the idea of this film, just not the execution. The moral dilemma is thought provoking and could spur hours of conversation and debate. Can you arrest and imprison someone for a crime they did not commit yet? Are criminal thoughts the same as criminal actions? Most people would likely argue no, yet imagine being able to prevent a murder before it happens! This fascinating concept is really the best part of Minority Report (5 Star premise in my opinion). However, it becomes almost totally overshadowed by the events in the film. Rather than the main storyline focused on running from the authorities and trying to prove innocence, I would have enjoyed more background on the establishment of the precognitives, murder data in cities without PreCrime, etc. I think a sequel, or even better, a prequel would have lots of potential to explore these concepts.
The movie also experiments with the idea of free will vs. a predetermined future. However, it provides conflicting evidence on both sides. There were many details that seemed to set the stage for future drama, only to never really come up again. These potential storylines fell by the wayside almost as soon as they were introduced. There was also a weird fantasy/whimsical vibe in certain scenes, which felt out of place to me. Example: Some of the plants in Dr. Iris Hineman’s greenhouse have almost animal characteristics and seem more alive than typical greenery. It feels like there was not a clear decision made between science fiction and fantasy. While those two genres can certainly overlap, it did not work well in this instance for me. The movie left me with a sense of a great story that was not fully fleshed out before filming. Again, I love the idea behind it, but Minority Report felt average in execution.
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