Supporting Victims: Frank Branham, Gabriel Brostow, Tom Crowley, Joel Fuernsinn,
Jason Hobbs, Reggie Hobbs, Melody Hunt, Dana Kass, Erik Lystad, Sean Marston,
Josh Rowan, Sandi West, Chris Whitaker, Patrick Yaner
Phillip K. Dick, one of
the science fiction greats, wrote "Do Androids Dream of Electric
Sheep", the book that gave us the movie Blade
Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. Minority Report is based on one of his
short stories. In director Steven Spielberg's hands, we're given a very good
story, some whiz bang sci-fi visuals, and a thin veneer of social commentary.
The latter is unfortunate but is also a consequence of the forces that drive
summer movies. Nevertheless, there's enough there to please many people even if
the movie itself doesn't go nearly as deep as it could to deal with some of the
very real and important ethical and technological issues that we face today.
The PreCrime division in Washington D.C./Baltimore was established 6 years ago
in the year 2052 as a means of stopping murders before they happen. The
heart of PreCrime is a trio of humans who have the gift to see the future when
they dream and are perpetually immersed in a bath of neural fluids to enhance
their visions. When the precogs detect a murder, the images from their minds are
projected into a computer using magical technology that still manages to sneak
under The Rule of One (the one 'gimme' we give to all movies). The PreCrime
officers then try and figure out the victim's location and cause of death so
that they can send a strike team to stop the crime before it happens and arrest
the murderer for a crime that they would have committed had they not been
stopped. After the arrest, the 'criminal' is placed in stasis for their crime.
Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, the lead detective of PreCrime. PreCrime has
been so successful that the murder rate of the Baltimore / Washington D.C. is
now nonexistent. No one has successfully committed a murder in 6 years thanks to
the predictive ability of the precognitive trio. The system is perfect. Thus,
when Anderton sees himself killing someone he doesn't know in one of these
images he soon finds himself on the run, trying his best, like any Greek hero,
to find out how to avoid an unavoidable future.
I've said before that good science fiction should isolate and examine some
aspect of human society either in the context of the impacts of technology or
reframing an existing problem in a future timeframe. A parallel goal of science
fiction may be to present a technology or concept that does not exist but
presents a probable stream of development that the human race should study and
engineer. But there's also the Hollywood approach to science fiction - show lots
of spiffy computer enhanced special effects that are only marginally related to
the story but will earn you good box office. Spielberg takes some of the
Hollywood approach but also includes a good amount of good science fiction.
Characters do discuss some of the ethical problems related to the paradox of
imprisoning individuals for crimes that they haven't actually committed. There
are a lot of futuristic but not inconceivable widgets and devices that would
make any technologist drool scattered throughout this world (Personally, I want
the large transparent screen, gesture-driven, information display used to
analyze the images from the precognitives). Retinal scanners located everywhere
keep track of the identities of commuters, shoppers, and casual pedestrians.
Anderton walks through a mall and is immediately inundated by advertisements
targeted specifically for him. Newspapers update in real time. Cars on freeways,
under central control, move in an orderly, graceful, and gravity-defying dance
to their destinations. It's a nice vision of the future that surrounds an
intriguing story which examines the philosophical issue of destiny and free
will. If the future is known, can human beings still make the choices that would
allow them to avoid or change it? Can we avoid Fate?
Sadly, or because of pragmatism, the movie doesn't dwell long on the deep
issues. It settles for telling a good story well, blending and balancing action
scenes with good dramatic ones. The worst instance of this lack of wisdom,
vision, courage, or, at worst, 'selling out' is the ending. Many of us were a
little annoyed by Minority Report's 'fourth act'. AI:
Artificial Intelligence, last year's Spielberg effort, had this problem as
well. Without giving away too much, this fourth act is like appending on an
extra 10 minutes to the end of every Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode to give
every episode a happy ending. It undermines the impact of the social message
that the movie attempted to convey and also the 'truth' that separates great
works from simply entertaining but mediocre ones. I'm sure that someone
somewhere has worked out the difference in dollars between a movie that ended
happily and a movie that didn't. The ending of Minority Report doesn't ruin the
movie, and most moviegoers will probably be happy with it. But I feel that the
conclusion simply diminishes the impact of the message. But I shouldn't be
surprised, I suppose. These are times where Americans are encouraged to spend
tremendous resources to avoid truth and responsibility. No one really wants to
escape to a movie to be burdened by a difficult ending.
Commentary aside, Minority Report is excellent summer fare that does tell a good
story with fun surprises and bits of humor. The visuals are gorgeous and worth
seeing on a big screen. Look for lots of subtle hints and clever references to
the story in some of the billboards and music. My favorite is Anderton's
listening to Schubert's Unfinished Symphony while looking for clues so that he
can cause a crime to go uncommitted. There's also a lot of silly product
placement which is always fun to mock. There's a lot of silly science in the
story and the technical concepts for those of you science and technology geeks
to nitpick as well. I give Minority Report an 8 out of 10 on the Good Movie
Scale and a 5 out of 10 on the Bad Movie Scale.
Our Drive-In Totals:
.2 breasts
4 dead bodies
3 almost dead bodies
No-Eyed Man in the Land of the Blind
Bum Rush
Car Hopping
Vertical Traffic
Gesture-driven User Interface
Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
Precognitive Triumvirate
Cerealtainment
Pop-Up Ads
Red Wooden Ball
Spider-Conditioned Citizens
Transparent Memo
Facial Defect made amusing by Austin Powers preview
Closet E.T. (We think E.T.'s in there somewhere, anyhow)
4 Timely Warnings
1 Icky Kiss
1 Untimely Warning
1 Pipe
1 Pipe Organ
2 Organs
Miracle Tea
The Third Man
Kung Fu
Gun Fu
Scissor Fu
Stun Wand Fu
Shockwave Gun Fu
Spider Fu
Fire Escape Ladder Fu
Anesthetic Fu
Projectile Vomiting Fu
Ceiling Fu
Jet Pack Fu
Plant Fu
Robotic Car Assembly Laser Welding Mechanical Arm Fu
Sandwich Fu
Milk Fu
Good Movie Scale: 8
Bad Movie Scale: 5
