"The Best Film of The Year."

Rating: 9/10 (6 August 2002)

Which is a better film, "Minority Report" or "Blade Runner?" I believe that "Minority Report,"is why, because of the plot. "Blade Runner" focused more on 3D effects than on the human story. What I love about "Blade Runner" is the vision of the future and the settings that were both dark and somber. "Minority Report" is also a dark and yet beautiful film. But I have to give credit to "Metropolis"(1925), the first and best SCI-FI film ever.
"Blade Runner," "Dark City," and "The Fifth Element" would have never been created without the inspiration of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis."
THE PLOT
In The Year 2054, a so-called "pre-crime division" is working busily around Washington, DC. It's purpose is to use the precog(native) potential of three genetically altered humans to prevent murders. Author, Dashielle, and Agatha (Samantha Morton), whose power is the strongest of the three. When the three precogs, who only work together, floating in what the police call the Temple, have a vision the names of the victim and the perpetrator as well as video imagery of the crime and the exact time that it will happen, are given out to these special police who then try to prevent the crime from happening.

Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, "Minority Report" is about a cop name John Anderton (Tom Cruise). John has the tables turned on him when he is accused of a future murder, and he must investigate the circumstances of this murder and prevent it before it is too late.
*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The film examines the political and ethical dilemma of arresting a person before the crime is committed. The project of pre-crime prevention is having it's first trial run, and the citizens of the city will vote on it in the next election. If the people vote it in as law the crime rate will drop drastically, but it is unknown whether innocent people might be imprisoned.

When John's son was murdered he joined the precog division and worked tirelessly to catch and imprison all murderers. One day, his name arrives in the "perpetrator" chute. The precogs predict that he will kill a man he never knew in less than 36 hours. John flees the division, his own colleagues after him, to solve this situation as his trust in the system diminishes rapidly. John follows a very small clue that might hold the key to his innocence, a strange unsolved yet predicted murder and a so-called "minority report", which is a documentation of one of the rare events when on of the precogs sees something different than the other two.
THE DIRECTING
There's a scene that most directors call a two-face-shot but Samantha Morton and Tom Cruise are facing the opposite direction. The two actors chins lay on each other's shoulders, as if almost hugging each other. Then Spielberg takes the camera and places it on the right side of Tom body and captures the two face shot. Tom's face and Samantha's eye's and mouth portray a very powerful scene. Another shot that I call the "Taxi Driver" shot is when Spielberg trails the camera on the roof of the peoples apartment, showing the spiders identifying the people. These days that scene would be digital but Spielberg never uses 3D unless he has too. Spielberg directs his films in a new yet classical way.
THE ACTORS
Samantha Morton's face conveys total fear and total authority. She received an Oscar nomination for her role as the mute girlfriend in Woody Allen's "Sweet and Lowdown." Tom Cruise didn't get nominated for his breakthrough performance in "Vanilla Sky," shame on the Academy. Tom did receive a Golden Globe for "Magnolia" and 3 Academy Award nominations for the following films, "Born on The Forth of July", "Jerry Maguire" and "Magnolia." Collin Farrell delivers his best performance in this movie to date.
There is a mental love story portrayed between Agatha and John. They've both been scarred deeply in the past and fate brings them together at this crucial time in John's life to solve this mystery. The film ends with Agatha sitting in a chair thinking about both her mother and John.
FAVORITE SCENE
My favorite scene is when Agatha helps John get away from the cops in the mall. This scene is like a puzzle coming together right before your eyes. She tells him to pick up an umbrella, then they pass a woman who recognizes him from police alerts and Agatha tells him that a man is carrying a briefcase that has a magazine in it about him.
Finally she tell him to stop and wait for the man who is selling balloons in the mall and when he does, the balloons block them both from being seen by the police. When they exit the mall the reason she asked for an umbrella becomes clear. It is raining and when they raise their umbrella they are indistinguishable in a crowd of hundreds of people with umbrellas.
BEST ACTION SEQUENCE
The best action sequence is when John takes the police on a rollercoaster ride of evasion in the neighborhood.
SCENE WITH A MESSAGE The scene where John almost lost his eyes is a message that he is blind to his emotions and does not see the big picture. The scene is really funny and sick but it does convey this message.
In the end I find that Spielberg is still in his Kubrick stage. Spielberg ends the film with a happy ending, but the film is still very dark. I quote Steven from an interview "I have to tap into my dark side to truly create a dark film." Believe me he has. I love this movie. Ridley Scott eat your heart out.
I haven't found any mistakes in this film and I definitely recommend this film to movie goers everywhere. I give "Minority Report" a 15 out of 10.
NOTE: Some of my plot paragraph quotes were from the IMDB site.