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Amazon.co.uk Review
Full of morally flawed characters, and shot in grainy desaturated colours, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report is futuristic film noir with a far-fetched B-movie plot that's so feverishly presented the audience never gets a chance to ponder its many improbabilities. Based on a short story by Philip K Dick, the film is set in the Orwellian near-future of 2054, where a trio of genetically modified "pre-cogs" warn of murders before they happen. In an SF twist on the classic Hitchcockian wrong-man scenario, Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is the zealous precrime cop who is himself revealed as a future killer. Plot twists and red herrings drive the action forward, and complications abound, not least Anderton's crippling emotional state, his drug habit, his avuncular-yet-sinister boss (Max Von Sydow) and the ambitious FBI agent Witwer (Colin Farrell) snapping at his heels.
Though the film toys with the notion of free will in a deterministic universe, this is not so much a movie of grand ideas as forward-looking ones. Its depiction of a near-future filled with personalised advertising and intrusive security devices that relentlessly violate the right of anonymity is disturbingly believable. Ultimately, though, it's a chase movie and the innovative set-piece sequences reveal Spielberg's flair for staging action. As with A.I. before it, there's a nagging feeling that the all-too-neat resolution is a Spielbergian touch too far: the movie could satisfactorily have ended several minutes earlier. Although this is superior SF from one of Hollywood's greatest craftsmen, it would have been more in the spirit of Philip K Dick to leave a few tantalisingly untidy plot threads dangling. --Mark Walker
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Minor Blu-Ray Report,
By Mr. Blu (Europe) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Minority Report [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
I never saw this film on first release and got to know it only now as a BD release. The first thing to say is that the sound quality is spectacular. Whether listening to the futuristic weapons and flying devices, the wild action sequences, or just about anything you remember from the film, there is a good chance that you will be very impressed by the power and clarity of this HD soundtrack. The localisation of surround effects and the power chanelled to your subwoofer for Low Frequency Effects are also truly stunning.
What you will think of the video quality depends on your attitude to grain. Like "Saving Private Ryan" this is a film where Spielberg cultivated a grainy, almost grimy look at times, and HD makes grain more apparent! Having said that, I thought the film looked fantastic and accepted the grain, the somewhat reduced colours and occasionally unsettling contrasts as part of Spielberg's dystopic vision. None of this prevents the film from demonstrating exceptional sharpness in close-ups and giving a real sense of depth and plasticity to the image in mid-range shots and close-ups. There is no lack of detail, and that is the good side of grain. Remove the grain with DNR and you lose detail. The film itself is packed with great perfomers, particularly Max von Sydow and Colin Farrell. It is a long-ish film but does not outstay its welcome, spinning a fascinating story with a perfect tempo and a generous smattering of twists and turns. The ethical issues it touches on are most compelling, even if they are in the end somewhat ducked by the nature of the film's resolution. I hope it's not a spoiler - (stop reading now if you don't know the plot and don't want to know anything about it) - to say that if the system had indeed been perfect then the moral questions would have been much more interesting. A great film to watch and rewatch, sounding great in HD and looking great too. If you hate grain, switch your player's processing on and reduce it according to taste. For purists there is nothing to worry about. Highly recommended.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic,
By
This review is from: Minority Report [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
What a great film. set a standard for future sci-fi films and many will attempt to beat it and fail. The blu ray version of it is very good. Many people moan about it being grainy, but that is the way in which it was filmed and thats what gives it the original feel to the film. Tom cruise plays his character very well and all of the other actors follow suit. Definitely worth watching/owning on blu ray!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spielberg does sci-fi Noir?,
By Spike Owen "John Rouse Merriott Chard" (Birmingham, England.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Minority Report - Single Disc Edition [2002] [DVD] (DVD)
The year is 2054 and the murder rate in Washington is zero, the reason? Three Pre-Cognitives whose combined abilities witness murders before they actually occur. Apparently faultless, it's then something of a surprise to Pre-Crime chief John Anderton when the Pre-Cogs predict he is to murder a man named Leo Crow. Forced to go on the run, and haunted by a family tragedy, Anderton must evade the system he so perfectly executed himself. Can he find a flaw or is he actually about to commit murder?Everybody Runs! That was the tag line that accompanied the explosive trailer for Steven Spielberg's, Tom Cruise starer, Minority Report. Indicating that the great bearded one had adapted from the Phillip K Dick short story and created an action monster, he hadn't, he in fact created something far far better than popcorn fodder. Minority Report was the next project for Spielberg following the equally dark and intriguing AI:Artificial Intelligence, both films serving to note that Spielberg was capable of thought provoking science fiction outside of the crowd pleaser's that the critics loved to decry. In fact, it's arguable that Spielberg may have hit his creative peak with Minority Report, for it's messages and crawling dystopian bleakness paint a picture not so much as a future far away in our lives, but of one we live in now. Big thematic points of reference dot themselves throughout the piece. Such as the changing of eye balls, or that in post 9/11 we yearn to be safer, here in this bleached shadowy world, we are safe under Pre-Crime, but it's got no heart, it's almost inhuman in itself, suggesting that the World's problems are not easily vanquished by technology and a total sacrifice of the World's inhabitants souls. Spielberg of course is well served by the supreme professionals he has at his disposal, he also managed to garner a great performance from Tom Cruise, something other critics and fan favourite directors have not managed to do previously. Alongside Cruise and operating with great impact, is Samantha Morton as Pre-Cog Agatha, while Max Von Sydow adds that touch of experienced know how needed for his particularly important character. Odd casting choice appeared to be Colin Farrell as the meddling, almost vindictive Danny Witwer, but he plays well off of Cruise even if he veers dangerously close to comic book villainy at times {check out a holy smoke Batman scene . What action there is is first rate, from a jet back pack pursuit, to car jumping heroics, the sequences are crafted with Spielberg's cheerily enjoyable flourishes. While the sick sticks {yes you read right}, metal spiders and a brilliant Peter Stormare cameo should hopefully have you squirming and grinning in equal measure. All that and a tremendous ending, that, whilst not a total surprise, rounds off a truly excellent and thinking man's science fiction picture. Spielberg does Noir? Hell yes, and some more as well. 9/10
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