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There
was a point while watching "Minority Report" when I felt:
you know, this is a decent sci-fi summer picture. It has an all-right
story, it has chases, gadgets, great production design, clever realisation
of a world, and it is genuinely interesting. And then, like a runner
running out of oxygen, the film collapses into a list of cliches
and one terrible ripoff.
If
I could have written a review based on the first two-thirds of "Minority
Report", it would sound like this: "Minority Report"
is an entertaining whodunnit wrapped in a glossy science fiction
shell. If there is something Spielberg knows, it's how to use production
design in the furtherence of the central story. There's just enough
hints of the future to tickle your fancy and funny moments to keep
it human.
Even
as a whole, "Minority Report" is not a bad film, but one
that fails itself. Still recognizably a Philip K. Dick story, "Minority
Report" has the substance of a good 'wrongfully accused' chase
adventure with Tom Cruise, for the most part, filling the action
part of the role nicely. Like "Blade Runner" and "Total
Recall", this film has a great hook where the hero must turn
against the system he worked for to resolve a mystery.
In
this case, Cruise plays the chief officer in a police bureau in
the Washington D.C. of the future where detectives rely on the precognitions
of three latter day seers in order to stop murders before they are
committed. Spectacularly successful, the program is about to be
adopted by the entire country after a period of close scrutiny by
the attorney general's office. Coincidentally, Cruise's investigator
finds a glitch in the recorded precognition of a solved case that
leads him question the veracity of these precognitions. Before he
can follow up on his suspicions another murder is 'reported', one
where he will be the suspect. It's a murder whose victim,
and the circumstances of the crime, are totally unknown to him.
This
sets up an interesting dilemma. Knowing what will happen, he can
try to stop it from happening by any number of ways. But in order
to find out what leads him to be a murderer, his every action may
lead him to follow the chain of events that make it happen. Or,
if predestination is true, it will happen despite any efforts he
makes to avoid it.
There
are other story threads that give "Minority Report" more
substance. Cruise's character is haunted by the disappearance of
his son, and subsequent breakdown of his marriage, only months before
the precog program was put in place. Then there are doubts about
the ethics of using the three precogs themselves, people who seemed
enslaved in a vat so that they can pour out their terrible visions
of the future. Finally, there's the legality of arresting someone
for something they haven't done yet. In the hands of a more subversive
filmmaker this last question could have been pointed directly at
the present Bush administration and its attack on the rights of
its citizens.
However,
this is Spielberg and what we can expect (and what he mostly delivers)
is a competently told story with a series of good chase scenes,
clever gags and wow shots. What I don't usually expect from Spielberg
is sticking to a script that so liberally plunders from past films,
both good and bad.
The
point where "Minority Report" palpably begins its descent
to mediocrity is where it loses confidence in the hero's dilemma
and character, turning into a run-of-the-mill version of the last
act of "The Fugitive". As if the hooks in the story weren't
interesting enough, the script then has to come up with enough excuses
to use a long list of tired cliches when it comes time for Cruise's
hero to get his revenge on the system.
Those
cliches include: the public exposition of the villain by displaying
an incriminating video on a large screen for all of society to see;
conveniently placing a weapon in the villain's possession by awarding
him a pistol as a gift; the old embrace and hidden gunshot followed
by the 'who got shot?' question; the villain making the mental error
of including more information than he should have known about a
crime he supposedly knew little about. There is more annoying stuff
that could be mentioned given more space.
There
are also logic holes aplenty. For example, why does the precog center's
security still allow Anderton access when he's been a high profile
fugitive for most of the film? Who cares that the red wooden balls
on which the names of the accused and victims are inscribed cannot
be forged? Why does the vat holding the precogs have an emergency
flush?
The
decline of "Minority Report" is also marked by an outrageous
ripoff from the excellent crime film "L.A. Confidential".
It's a small, surprising piece of composition that will be instantly
recognized by anyone who has seen it. Here's some advice. Watch
"L.A. Confidential" first and, if you must, then watch
"Minority Report" and see if you're not shaking your head
at that scene.
Then
there is the Cruise factor. That Tom Cruise has presence is
undenying. However, in "Minority Report" it's difficult
to find an actual performance by Cruise. As an action star
and deliverer of lines, he's fine, but when you have a character
who is supposedly haunted by loss and driven to consider murder,
you expect a bit more emotion. For whatever reason, Cruise doesn't
connect.
In
theatres now.
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