ITS NO BLADERUNNER

Rating: Null/10 (23 June 2002)

The movie is in short, a visual feast, and really at no point turns gimmicky. It is definitely the first of the most stylistically important films of the new millenium. The use of colors like the blues and greys is incredible, dramatic, and in some ways, painfully reminiscent of Kubrick... obviously, so is the use of classical music here and there. The music was used more importantly in Kubrick's movies though (in a ClockWork Orange to denote scenes of dark humor, sex, or violence). In Minority Report, it is scattered at random. Blade Runner's plot and characters are more complete and even more interesting, but is kind of unfair to compare since that film has such a cult following, and the critics didn't like it when it first came out (which is kind of irrelevant, but it shows how things change with culture and time). Minority Report felt a little forced, though. Things didn't open up naturally like a really good movie. There were no serious plot twists to keep the viewer engaged, and the ending was cliche. The screenplay needed more work and so did the character development. Spielberg's eye for visual detail is definately still there, and growing. Has Spielberg lost his touch? I haven't seen AI to comment on that, but Saving Private Ryan was made just a few years earlier and that movie was flat out awesome, so I think he is still very capable of great films. However, I was expecting Schindler's List, which is unfair, but that is where my bar is at now, and I still believe Spielberg will go to his grave and never top that movie. I left Minority Report as a whole dissatisfied, but I did not feel it was a waste of money. I just wanted more from the movie.