Good, but misses being great

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2002)

*** If you have not seen the movie, DO NOT READ ON -Spoiler Notice***
From a CNN Reviewer who was obviously close to the mark but looking for his paycheck: `Of course, it all begins with the written word, and screenwriters Scott Frank ("Out Of Sight," 1998) and Jon Cohen have crafted an action-filled thriller that is not totally insulting to the intelligence of a 12-year-old. Very refreshing.'
Yeah, but insulting to the intelligence of anyone OVER 12.
The logical flaws from the technical perspective are going to keep Minority Report from being a Great Movie, verse a good movie, to me. Unfortunately I have noticed what I will call the `this is too tough to really figure out and write' trend in a number of movies.
Now I am going to focus on some flaws in the logic of the technology presentation in the movie, though I feel that for the entire package to be believable the script writers MUST be able to deliver the entire deal. What I envision is Spielberg and crew sitting around a table, hopefully saying to themselves, `Well that is just not realistic, but since this is a summer popcorn movie and most of our audiences are just mindless sheep we have pulled into our valley, we will go with it.'
Point #1: They have these cool guns that shoot some kind of sonic pulse that can blow people off the ground or knock huge barrels around, but do not seem to be at all lethal. Yet when the cops go to get John Anderton, none of the SIX seem to have this wonderful weapon and must engage in hand to hand combat with John to capture him. Of course he is quickly able to escape from all six of them even though they ARE armed with cattle prods that make you vomit and all kinds of body armor.
Point #2: Eye replacement surgery that can be done and healed in 24 hours. I think we are going to have some amazing medical advances in 50 years, but there are *SO* many advances that have to happen for this to come true- 1) eye replacement 2) amazing 12 hour healing drugs 3) eye replacement
Point #3: This is a wonderful combo statement. And the one that *REALLY* gets me ticked, as the writers used the contrivance a number of times, not satisfied to just sneak it in and let it lie out there as complete crap. After John has his eyes miraculously replaced and healed in 12 hours, he gets to keep his old eyeballs. Now he is able to somehow gain access through a `back door' to a passageway that leads right up to the bottom of the precogs tank area and the *ONLY* security he has to elude to get to this point (the most valuable asset of this entire company, in fact, the asset that this entire very technologically sophisticated and well funded company is built upon) is one iris scan locked door. Ok here I am about to really destroy my credibility of the movie. When he gets to this single barrier to his entrance (security cameras, motion sensors, don't exist in 50 years? Yeah, right), he gains entrance by pulling out (and then dropping for some comic relief) his old eyeballs. Which after dramatically chasing down a ramp (which they roll down like marbles, because you see eyeballs are hard and smooth. anyway.), he then holds up to the scanner and voila! he gains entrance! Wonderful except for the *TOTALLY* unbelievable fact that in 50 years, in a secure police facility that utilizes amazing technology to stop murders, once one of their own is implicated as a criminal and they send squads of police out to capture him, they are UNABLE to mark him in their own security system as unauthorized for access. Now unless I am mistaken, this is amazingly simple to do in our own systems today (MS Windows, Account Inactive, done). And don't even get me started on the whole disconnection of the precog from her supposedly complete life support systems and then the escape down this huge drain in the middle of their `tank'. I am laughing as I write this, what the heck were these guys thinking?
And another point, (geez, these keep coming up!)- if the precogs are able to see images of the future, but unable to be specific about location, how are they able to tell EXACTLY the names of the victims and murderer and the time? (The names of which then are scribed onto wooden balls that roll down this tube system- again the actors must have had many takes while they tried to stop laughing as the little balls rolled down and they then had to seriously pick them up.)
OOO- one other point I should not fail to mention is the whole `Mission Impossible' scene stuck into this movie with the lines `So I have to somehow go back to impossibly secure room, break in, retrieve most protected article, and somehow get out' line. Lazy, lazy, lazy!!!
Oh man, my rating for this movie just keeps going down. Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Cruise certainly did pay a lot of money and put a ton of wonderful effects together for this film. But unfortunately as is the case with many movies lately, they have let the effects be the driver for the movie instead of the story. Too many are falling victim to this lately. The adage that less is more is always sage advice and I believe will always produce a better movie. Check out Blade Runner! Highly technical yet you only remember the story. The effects blend into the background.
Just another minor point. When John first comes home and gets out of his car, he walks into the apartment and says `I'm home' at which point the lights come on. Again, a properly designed system would AUTOMATICALLY turn the lights on when he arrived and stepped through the door- what else would he be other than `home' when he steps out of the car into the apartment?