If Spielberg could just stop being so Spielberg-y....

Rating: 4/10 (17 July 2005)

He can do it, like in "Saving Private Ryan" - which I really liked- or a less epic, but really good "Catch Me if you Can". But while it was, in all, a good film, too many distracting elements hurt it for me. The little girl's lines were, at times, not what a precocious 10-year-old would say. Rather, they were what a precocious 45-year-old seasoned Hollywood scriptwriter would say, if they were a little girl. Strike one.
And Spielberg's set design indulgences (seriously flawed in Minority Report, in particular) also popped up like a bad zit. Example: When the first tripod emerged I saw a scissor-jack which was on the sidewalk to replace the letters on a movie marquee. A scissor-jack for THAT??? C'mon, that's what ladders and poles are for. However, you do see those very expensive machines aplenty on a Hollywood backlot. Example 2: a 250 Kg V-8 engine on the kitchen table. Its supposed to show Cruise's character is wrapped up in his tinkering, but THREE men can't get that up a flight of stairs, and he HAS A GARAGE on ground level, hello. Couldn't they at least present an engine you can CARRY UP THE STAIRS??? So it seems like Spielberg and his set designer haven't the common sense to leave the studio backlot and see the real world. Strike TWO.
The ending, where even the son who went running into firestorm of death shows up fine for the happy family reunion in Boston. Why not throw in a whelp of puppies and a litter of kittens? Too much? So that's Strike THREE. The ending killed it for a lot of people I know. Like chocolate syrup on a good steak.
So much was good about the film; Spielberg's depiction of group panic, Cruise sold me on the irresponsible father, and there was a menacing monster that was killing for sport before killing for their harvest. But there were too many other things that make me ask "WHY did you DO that???" There are pro's and con's about this film, and if you don't get into the details, like I do, you'll enjoy it. But dang it, I see so many places where it could have been better.
:-D