Minority Report (film)
Minority Report l is a American science fiction film.
Directed
by Steven Spielberg
Produced by Walter F. Parkes
Jan de Bont
Gary Goldman
Minority Report is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name. It is set in Washington D.C. in the year 2054, where a special police department called "pre-crime" apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge, provided by three psychics termed "pre-cogs". The film stars Tom Cruise as John Anderton, a pre-crime officer, who heads the pre-crime police force. Colin Farrell plays Danny Witwer, an agent from the Department of Justice who is sent to observe the process, Samantha Morton portrays the senior pre-cog Agatha, and Max von Sydow plays Lamar Burgess, Anderton's superior. It is one of several films based on stories by Philip K. Dick.
The film cost over $100 million, though it made more than three times
that in worldwide box office, and sold at least four million DVDs in its first
few months of release. Minority Report was one of the best reviewed films of 2002,
and was nominated for and won several awards. These included four Saturn Awards,
including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction. Minority Report also earned
an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing. The film has a distinctive
look, featuring desaturated colors which make it almost resemble a black-and-white
film, yet the blacks and shadows have a high contrast, resembling film noir.
Cast
Spoiler
Plot
The
film is set in Washington, D.C. in the year 2054. The film opens as Anderton (Cruise)
and his team are in the midst of apprehending a suspect. In this sequence, it
is revealed that the pre-cogs only relate the time/date of the murder, the murderer's
name, and the victim's name. All other facts of the crime, chiefly the location,
can only be ascertained by clues given by the various images relayed around the
time of murder. Images transfer from the pre-cogs' minds to a computer display,
where Anderton manipulates the images in a manner similar to a virtual reality
interface to better determine how the murders might or will happen. Anderton is
observed during this process by Danny Witwer (Farrell), an agent from the Department
of Justice. Witwer is sent to evaluate the system because the country is about
to vote on whether to expand the Pre-Crime program nationally.
Later that day Anderton goes to his apartment, where he watches home movies of his six-year old son. It becomes evident that he lost his son, and that he is now divorced. The next morning, Witwer is given a tour of the pre-cogs' chamber. The pre-cogs are seen floating in a translucent substance, which a technician explains helps enhance the images that the pre-cogs produce. After the tour, Anderton stays behind, and the pre-cog Agatha (Morton) emerges from the pool. She draws Anderton's attention to the ceiling, which also displays images from a precog's mind, that is displaying images of a woman being drowned by a masked man. Intrigued by a murder which he's never seen before, Anderton decides to investigate. He learns that the woman, Anne Lively, was drowned in a lake by a John Doe (retinal identification wasn't possible because he had his eyes surgically replaced with new ones). Anderton discovers that the other pre-cogs' images of the murder are on record, but Agatha's recorded images are missing. He then conveys this information to Burgess (Von Sydow), who appears unconcerned.
Anderton then returns to the pre-crime offices and investigates a new case. A murder is to take place in 36 hours. The murderer is revealed to be Anderton himself, and the victim a man named 'Leo Crow'. Believing that he is being set up since he doesn’t know the victim, Anderton takes it on the lam. He manages to escape Witwer and a team of pre-crime officers in a car factory and seeks refuge in the country home of a woman named Iris Hindeman, who was one of the pioneers of pre-crime. Hindeman reveals that the pre-cogs were an accidental discovery. They are the very few surviving children of drug addicted women in a treatment programme, whose violent dreams were found to be echoes of murders which had yet to occur. She tells him that the pre-cogs do not always agree in their opinions about the future; when this happens, the dissenting opinion is ignored. Thus, Anderton's only hope at proving his innocence is acquiring the hidden "minority report" from which the film takes its title.
Travelling undetected is difficult, since everyone is subjected to Eye-Dent iris recognition scans at all times. Therefore, Anderton visits a shady doctor (played by Peter Stormare) and receives an eye transplant. While sleeping to recover from the surgery he has a dream, where it is revealed that his son was abducted. He awakens to discover that the pre-crime team is investigating the building he is in. The team dispatches "spyders," robotic eye scanners, to the various rooms to find and ID Anderton. Anderton tries to hide but is scanned. The surgery proves successful and he is not identified as John Anderton. Later, he manages to reach the pre-crime offices. He takes Agatha out of the nutrient water—permanently disrupting the pre-cog hive mind that makes pre-crime work—and escapes again. Anderton then finds a hacker friend who accesses Agatha's vision of the murder. The vision is identical to the one Anderton intercepted himself.
Anderton then goes to Leo Crow’s apartment where Crow is not present. While searching the room, he finds a pile of photos of children, one of which is a photo of his son. Anderton suddenly comes to the realization that there is no minority report for himself, and that Leo Crow is responsible for kidnapping his son. Anderton had pre-planned this murder, a long standing wish to kill the previously anonymous person who took his son. Then, Crow enters his apartment and Anderton attacks him eliciting a confession. While this is going on, Agatha tries to convince Anderton that he does not have to kill Crow. Anderton reconsiders and reads Crow his Miranda rights. Crow then says that if Anderton doesn’t kill him, Crow’s family will get nothing: the entire murder was a set up. Crow then grabs Anderton’s gun to point it at his chest and manages a cop-assisted suicide by worrying Anderton's hand. Anderton and Agatha then leave the apartment.
Witwer and the pre-crime unit arrive and investigate the crime scene. Witwer sees the photos and becomes skeptical of what happened due to the "orgy of evidence". Witwer then meets with Burgess to discuss his doubts with him. He shows Burgess the Anne Lively pre-vision, but two different ones; one from Art and Dash taken from pre-crime, the other a minority report from Agatha. He shows Burgess that the two images have slight differences, such as water lapping in opposite directions. Witwer intuits that they were altered. Burgess interrupts this analysis, shooting Witwer in the chest. Since the hive mind is not functioning (Agatha is with Anderton), pre-crime is not able to forecast and prevent Witwer's murder.
Anderton then hides out in his ex-wife Lara’s house. While there, he comes to realize that he was set up because of his discovery of the Ann Lively murder. Lively is revealed to be Agatha's mother, killed because she got clean and wanted to re-unite with Agatha. The police then arrive and arrest Anderton for the murders of Crow and Witwer. Later, Burgess accidentally reveals to Lara that he killed Ann Lively. Lara releases Anderton from prison, and as Burgess is giving a speech, Anderton confronts him on his crime by showing everyone in attendance the Agatha pre-vision which reveals the masked killer of Anne Lively was Burgess himself. Burgess takes a gun and starts after Anderton; he eventually decides to commit suicide instead, as killing Anderton would prove Precrime's infallibility but result in his lifetime imprisonment, while not killing him would undermine the program itself.
In the final sequence, Anderton narrates that pre-crime was shut down. All of the pre-criminals who were imprisoned by pre-crime were unconditionally pardoned and released, though monitored for a long period of time, according to the narration. The pre-cogs were taken to a secret location to live in seclusion. Anderton is shown reconciled with Lara who is visibly pregnant.
Cast and characters
Tom
Cruise as Chief John Anderton. Anderton is a middle-aged divorced head of the
pre-crime department in Washington D.C. He has been emotionally impacted by the
disappearance of his son.
Jerry Robinson as Director Lamar Burgess. Burgess
is an elderly official in the Washington D.C. crime department and Anderton's
superior.
Colin Farrell as Danny Witwer. Witwer is a cocky Department of Justice
agent sent to observe and evaluate the pre-crime process.
Samuel l Jackson
as Jad. Jad oversees the pre-cogs and helps Anderton interpret their visions.
Neal McDonough as Fletcher. Fletcher is a Pre-crime officer who works alongside
Anderton.
Samantha Morton as Agatha. Agatha is the lead pre-cog and has the
most powerful psychic abilities of the three.
Don King as Dr. Iris Hineman.
Hineman is one of the pioneers of the pre-crime program, but is currently retired.
Kathryn Morris as Lara. Lara is Anderton's ex-wife and the mother of his missing
child.
Animation
- Comedy - Crime
- Documentary
-
Family - Foreign
Language - Historical
- Horror - Musical
- Political
Recommended- Romance- Science Fiction and Fantasy - Sport Movies -- Thriller - War - Western - Wildlife
A map of where different US films & TV programmes blanket across the USA are
ZANADU - A FUN BASED SITE, WITH SOME FILM RELATED SECTIONS
Flight Las Vegas Nevada - Find a flight to Las Vegas
Cheap flights Beijing - Get your tickets here Fly to Beijing
Bank Interest Rates - A Website on Bank Interest Rates
Car Cheap Insurance - Get Cheap Car Insurance from here
Flights London - Want to fly to or Visit London get your Flight and Hotel place here
Get
your fave music here for your IPOD
Buy DVD Rent DVD Get your DVDs from here