Review by Melik
“Minority Report” starts with a rush and ends with a confused cliché. On the surface it seemed easy to suspend reality and accept what was created on the screen. A considerable amount of time was spent to try to get you believe that this could actually happen. A criminal can be arrested moments before he commits the crime of murder is intriguing. The world of the pre-cogs, is a curiosity that moves you through the movie. Without the pre-cogs Pre-crime could not exist.
The film goes beyond the short story that was penned by Philip K. Dick from which the movie is based on. I wonder how the movie would have been interpreted if the author was still alive. The author died at the age of 53 of heart failure on the 2nd of March 1982. Later that year the film “Blade Runner” was released which was based on his short story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”.
I found the commercials intolerable. The movie execs like to call them product placements. Steven Spielberg made Reese’s Pieces one of the pioneers of product placements in movies way back in 1982. “Minority Report” throws in more than 15 major brands for product placement. Some might argue that the product placements were a vital tool.
I really cannot buy that some guy can perform a complete exchange of one’s eyes in a rodent and insect infested apartment with help from a sex craved assistant. The good doctor almost has the last laugh in this scene.
Maybe cars will be able to drive down walls and flip onto the highway with the greatest of ease. Everyone will own a Lexus, use their American Express to shop from the Gap, while wearing their Reeboks, drinking a Pepsi and talking on their Nokia phone. I go to movies to separate myself from everyday life, not to be reminded of it.
Did you know that you could just walk into a hotel, go to a room and open the door without a key or some space-aged gadget? Twice if you have to. Undetected of course, remember Big Brother is always watching except when it is convenient for him not to.
Minority Report is not bad. It has good cinematography. It is not down laden with heavy dialogue. There are some good action scenes. You just have to have faith then you might be able to enjoy this latest installment of big budget Hollywood cookie cutter marketing. Uh, I mean filmmaking.
If you love Tom Cruise, if you believe in Steven Spielberg’s vision, if you can overlook little details, if you love sci-fi and if you just have plain faith then Minority Report is for you. If you need a little more meat and potatoes with your fluff and side dishes I would be leery. That’s my word for what’s on the screen.
Melik can be seen each Tuesday st 7:00 pm hosting the television show Time Slot on AT&T Broadband Channel 16 in the Lansing, MI area with his co-host Nadia Sellers.
Printed in Volume 1 Issue 12
