Spoiled by the same problems as AI

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2002)

Minority Report is a reasonably good film; great and exciting in places, and lame as a one-legged mule in others. Why have the last two movies Steven Spielberg has directed (AI and this) got intrusive and sickeningly schmaltzy scenes that really hurt the strong stuff before? The end of AI is the worst in motion picture history that I know of, and while Minority Report doesn't fall anywhere near as far, the way it shoots itself in the foot with clumsy 'emotional' scenes and overstated dialogue is distressing. Like AI, the end is overlong and drains the excitement away. If this kind of stuff was lost in the editing room, Minority Report could have been a classic. As it is, I give it a 6.