In which I praise the film, & point & laugh at fools.

Rating: 8/10 (24 June 2002)

Perhaps my favorite part of Minority Report is the feeling of P.K. Dick-iness. Despite the Gap plugs, Pepsi plugs, etc., there's Dick's fundamental dislike and distrust of ads, of society, etc.
Frankly, I liked A.I., and I liked this movie a lot. I hadn't expected much, except for some neat Blade Runner-style action, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Really, only three problems: camera filters. Sometimes the picture was just too blurred out, too blue, too grey, whatever. Editing. Ignoring the A.I. like "false ending" (the whole halo shot...you'll see what I mean), which could've been great, but dragged on to the inevitable, tidy, glowing happy ending. I was so looking forward to a down note, because no one ever seems to take risks anymore and maybe p**s off an audience. Anyway. Humor. Most of it was good, but the whole spoiled food bit should've been dropped. Actually, the deletion of that bit alone would've satisfied me. Those are small, though, and I can see that Spielberg had to throw a bone to stupid people to keep them interested.
As for plot holes: 1) suspension of disbelief. You people accept precogs as valid, but nothing else? Get some perspective. 2) deal with it. Something tells me both Dick and the people involved with the movie gave it a little more thought than you did, and came up with a suitable answer that didn't make it onto screen (for example, why is it not feasible that the precogs are actually RESTRAINED to D.C.? You don't know how powerful they are. And someone mentioned that the precogs had had their rights violated...well...duh. Did you show up late or something? They're not there voluntarily, but no one bothered to ask 'em, and they're too drugged up to do anything).
I would also like to respond to another post, one in which the movie was called a "good movie, but not a good sci-fi movie" (or some such rot...I can't be bothered to look it up). Minority Report, from every conversation I've ever had about the nature of sci-fi (lucky me, I got to take a class about science fiction and read Dick for credit :), is a great example of sci-fi, particularly in that it follows principles set down by Gernsback, Campbell, etc., and specifically Heinlein, such as, "The problem itself -- the plot -- must be a human problem," "the conditions must be, in some respect, different from here-and-now..." "the new condition must be an essential part of the story."
Sitting in the theater, I couldn't help but check all of those points off in my head, and smile to myself, as I'm always heartened when SF is raised above our society's perceptions of it (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek), and show that literature/art is just that, no matter what's going on.
In short: Minority Report has some flaws (it ain't gonna win an Oscar for "Best Editing," but I'm hoping for "Best Supporting Actress" for the woman who played Agatha), but it's very enjoyable, and manages to raise some questions about destiny, reality, and privacy.