Minority Report

Wanted for a future murder that has been predicted by the police's virtually imprisoned psychics, Tom Cruise is a "pre-crime" cop on the run from his own men in this futuristic thriller that is unquestionably the first hallmark film of 21st century science fiction. Influenced by the cerebral works of Stanley Kubrick and Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg's vision of a sleek but swarthy cityscape, circa 2054 A.D., is a dreamlike built-up utopia. Based on the Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is a fantastically complex thriller with eye-boggling action sequences, but two cheap plot devices leave this otherwise fantastic sci-fi spectacular with a bad aftertaste: 1) the plot resolution hinges on that tired and idiotic cliché of an antagonist giving himself/herself away through a verbal slip-up ("wait a minute, I never said..."), and, 2) the movie is structured as a film noir whodunit (or who-will-do-it), yet as the pieces of the mystery fall into place, the audience is left in the dark until the last minute for the sake of a cheap surprise. Absolutely worth seeing, but these pivotal plot flaws are the film's Achilles' heel. Recommended, with reservations. [Note: DVD extras include a second disc with a “From Story to Screen” plot overview section with featurettes “The Story, The Debate” (10 min.) and “The Players” (9 min.); the section “Deconstructing Minority Report,” which includes five 5-10 minute featurettes on topics such as visual effects, prevision creation techniques, production and set design; three featurettes on stunts for three scenes (all are three minutes); six 2-4 minute featurettes on the computer graphic handiwork of Industrial Light & Magic; a “Final Report” four-minute interview segment with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg; and archives with production concepts and notes, storyboard sequences, cast and filmmaker bios, and trailers. Bottom line: an extensive extras package for a thought-provoking film.] (R. Blackwelder)[Blu-ray Review—Apr. 13, 2010—Paramount, 146 min., PG-13, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2002's Minority Report sports a nice transfer with DTS-HD 5.1 sound. Blu-ray extras ported from the previous DVD release include a “From Story to Screen” plot overview section with the featurettes “The Story, The Debate” (10 min.) and “The Players” (9 min.); a “Deconstructing Minority Report” section, which includes five 5-10 minute featurettes on topics such as visual effects, pre-vision creation techniques, production, and set design; three featurettes on stunts for three scenes (9 min. total), six 2-4 minute featurettes on Industrial Light & Magic's CGI work, a “Final Report” interview with Spielberg and star Tom Cruise (4 min), and archives with production concepts and notes, storyboard sequences, and trailers. New to the Blu-ray release is “The Future According to Steven Spielberg” section with multiple options for viewing different segments during an interview with the director (34 min.), a featurette on the original story with Spielberg and author Philip K. Dick (15 min.), the production featurettes “Inside the World of Precrime” (10 min.), “Highlights from the Set” (9 min.), “Props of the Future” on set design (10 min.), “Future Realized” (6 min.), and “Commercials of the Future” on creating the ads used in the film (4 min.), as well as two pre-visualization sequences (4 min.). Bottom line: an excellent Blu-ray debut for this Spielberg film that originally debuted to mixed reviews but holds up well today.]