More Science Fiction Adventure from Spielberg

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2005)

Minority Report Science Fiction Action/Adventure
Spielberg. What do you think of when you hear that name? Whatever it is, you typically, eventually, think of Hollywood heavyweights. This is that guy that can direct anything he wants. He's on top of the world, and his pedestal is Hollywood. And yet, this is the first time I've ever reviewed one of his films. Guess I've been lingering around the crappy underground horror section too much at my local DVD haunts
Like most everything Spielberg has done since Schindler's List, this is another bleak, mildly depressing and somber film coupled with intense action and amazing visuals. The story revolves around Tom Cruise's character as "the main guy" in charge of a division of the Washington DC police department in charge of preventing future "Pre-Crime" crimesnamely murders. He got into it, of course, to prevent future horrors like kidnappingwhich is how he lost his son. Pretty quickly, a wild story is woven into the folds of this film as he is framed for the pre-murder of a man he's never met and uncovers disturbing secrets all around. All of this is flung around fantastic imagery and excellent special effects showing us the wild world of America, 2054.
Here's the breakdown:
The Good:
--The real stars of this film are the vast quantities of amazing special effects and imagery. Okay, sure, the special effects are simply computer-graphics for the most part, and overall, they're really quite good. There are moments of somewhat lackluster CGmostly in the animated living plants we see during one scene in the movie, but aside from that, top notch.
--Fantastic, intense action, fun to watchespecially with those great visuals.
--One of the better "visions of the future" we have.
--That, I think it's a Lexus, that with which Tom Cruise drives away from car's factory. That's a damn nice car. Lexus actually built it for the movieone wonders why they don't make 'em that cool now
--The acting is really well done, and the story is quite nice. It takes full advantage of the futuristic Science Fiction setting.
--Excellent Cinematography. Interesting use of blue hues and sheens throughout the entirety of the filmit adds a depressing, almost smothering feel to the film. Often, it's almost like a black and white movie, and very stark.
--Good music.
Didn't Hurt It, Didn't Help:
--One wonders what happened to the day when Spielberg made movies that weren't so damn dark and bleak. This is still a fun film, but no where near as fun as, say, an Indiana Jones flick. And the future does not look like a happy place. Seems it's more popular to make visions of the future as depressing and uninviting as possible. Still, it carries along the atmosphere quite well.
--Like I said, occasionally some of the CGmostly just on the "living plants"seems kind of sloppy.
The Bad:
--Really, nothing I could say here that ruined the film.
The Ugly:
--Tom's dinner after his, uh, eye surgery.
Memorable Scene: --The jet-pack enhanced chase scene.
Acting: 9/10 Story: 9/10 Atmosphere: 10/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Character Development: 9/10 Special Effects/Make-up: 9/10 Nudity/Sexuality: 1/10 (extremely brief sexual references) Violence/Gore: 6/10 (some violence, mostly action suspense) Dialogue: 8/10 Music: 8/10 Direction: 9/10
Cheesiness: 0/10 (relates to the dialog problem) Crappiness: 0/10
Overall: 9/10
Spielberg and Science Fiction fans will certainly enjoy this. As well as anyone looking for a brainy action/adventure flick. Brainy because of the rampant Sci-Fi talk and imagery.
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