Michael Tue Jul 16 00:09:39 2002
Minority Report - 9.8
OK, so you're asking, if I'm such a pushover for movies, how come I dinged this excellent one with -0.2? There was a logical flaw in this one. I think it's safe to give away the fact that the protagonist is accused of (going to be) committing a murder, and it's not giving much away if I tell you that the elapsed time between knowing this and the murder is 36 hours and change. So to avoid *the entire plot* our man could just have decided to lie low for two days. Jeez, what would *that* have cost him, eh? Nothing at all.
THAT SAID -- wow. Remember how I bellyached about realizing the ending to Sixth Sense after the first couple of scenes? Well, Minority Report had me *thinking* I realized the ending. And then they sucker punched me! I had it all wrong! In several ways! And then after that I had it wrong again! Wow! Somebody in Hollywood managed to produce something that surprised me!
So I'm happy.
Additionally, the film treats us to a number of groovy future thingies without being *coff*Lucas*coff* heavy-handed about it. One I liked in particular was the animated, full-audio-video cereal box that Tom Cruise eats a couple of handfuls of sugar cereal out of. It triggers the animation, he beats it on the table top a time or two to get it to shut up (it doesn't), then tosses it across the room in irritation -- all completely casually scripted and fully realistic. Another: pervasive identification technology resulting in personalized ads everywhere. Imagine popup ads on the Net, except in every store you walk into. You walk into the Gap and a video screen greets you by name and asks you how your last purchase (by which I mean, exactly your last purchase, of those green trousers or whatever) is working out. And simultaneously, your location pops up at police headquarters if they're looking for you.
In other words -- a very realistic look at the future in some respects. And some excellent action sequences, a couple of surprisingly well-thought-out scenes (hiding from the police in a mall with a precognitive -- a couple of *very* nicely done gags there), a good crime thriller plot, decent acting.
If it just hadn't had the plot hole, darn it. Maybe I should give it a 9.9.
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Chris Tue Jul 16 17:16:50 2002
Re: Minority Report - 9.8
> OK, so you're asking, if I'm such a pushover for movies, how come I dinged
> this excellent one with -0.2? There was a logical flaw in this one. I
> think it's safe to give away the fact that the protagonist is accused of
> (going to be) committing a murder, and it's not giving much away if I tell
> you that the elapsed time between knowing this and the murder is 36 hours
> and change. So to avoid *the entire plot* our man could just have decided
> to lie low for two days. Jeez, what would *that* have cost him, eh?
> Nothing at all.
Well, that's the only way to avoid a time paradox. Anderton lies low = Anderton doesn't commit murder = precogs can't have seen murder as it didn't happen = Anderton didn't need to lie low in the first place. (I suppose you could say the precogs were just wrong, there actually was a minority report, etc., but that seems like cheating to me.)
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Michael Tue Jul 16 19:41:28 2002
Re: Minority Report - 9.8 SPOILER
> Well, that's the only way to avoid a time paradox. Anderton lies low =
> Anderton doesn't commit murder = precogs can't have seen murder as it
> didn't happen = Anderton didn't need to lie low in the first place. (I
> suppose you could say the precogs were just wrong, there actually was a
> minority report, etc., but that seems like cheating to me.)
No, it's made quite clear that once you have knowledge of your future, you still have a choice. Thus it's not a paradox if they see something and something quite else happens -- it's not time *travel* after all.
So Anderton had the option of lying low.
Why is it that in my memory of much of the movie, Keanu Reeves appears instead of Tom Cruise? Is it that Keanu *would* have done the movie, but then had the choice? Am I a retroprecognitive?
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Chris Wed Jul 17 01:51:25 2002
Re: Minority Report - 9.8 SPOILER
> Why is it that in my memory of much of the movie, Keanu Reeves appears
> instead of Tom Cruise? Is it that Keanu *would* have done the movie, but
> then had the choice? Am I a retroprecognitive?
God, I hope not.
(ANDERTON sees image of a murder committed by him) ANDERTON: Whoa.
(ANDERTON commits murder. MAN WHOSE NAME CHRIS HAS FORGOTTEN is defenestrated by the gunshot.) ANDERTON: Whoa.
Etc.
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Michael Sat Jul 20 12:59:12 2002
Re: Minority Report - 9.8 SPOILER
> (ANDERTON sees image of a murder committed by him) ANDERTON: Whoa.
Dude, Keanu Reeves rocks. I've liked him since Bill and Ted. And I particularly liked him in the Matrix. Call it a character flaw. I just like the guy.
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