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*** Official "MINORITY REPORT" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Dan Paolozza

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Which federal buildings? The C&C at the Pentagon? Or even the R&D server farms of Lockheed or Grumman? I doubt it. These examples were what the PreCrime HQ seemed [relatively] similar to. Even yielding to this analogy: I could have bought it had John pulled some disguise/Mission Impossible type of casual infiltration. But he said himself that he'd be scanned a million times before he got within even 20 ft of the HQ (or something to that effect).

Speaking of which - if his eyescan was an issue of being identified and then the alarm being alerted - what does it matter whether they were scanned while in his head or not? They're still HIS eyes, so wouldn't it give away his position nonetheless? But I digress.

To me, the simplest explanation is actually that Burgess rigged it all to be so. The explanation itself isn't as simple, but the resulting circumstances of the "rigged" explanation are much more simple.
 

Mike Graham

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I may be imagining this, but in the first half of the film when Anderton is on the run from the police and takes the train/subway car, he sits down near a casual observer (whose face isn't shown by the camera) who is reading a copy of "USA Today." The paper's headline is updated to show Anderton's face with the headline proclaiming him to be on the run. The man reading this looks up as Anderton walks off. When the camera switches angles to show his face, I could've sworn the man was being played by writer/director Cameron Crowe.

Crowe is an associate of Cruise, and had a Spielberg cameo in his last film, Vanilla Sky.
 

Quentin

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Yes it is. The storytellers (Spielberg and Frank) screwed up. Anderton breaks in once, and his wife uses the same method to break in again...days, maybe weeks later.
As Patrick said...if you want to believe that the characters in the film made a mistake...twice...then, hey, I'm glad it works for you! :)
 

Quentin

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Really??

Even if I bought this...(I don't), then why would Burgess allow Anderton's eyes access AFTER Anderton is incarcerated?

His wife gets in using the same trick!
 

Brennan Hill

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I'm a network support technician, and in 80% of the clients I've been to, and past businesses I've worked for (like a bank), electronic or computerized security privelages/access are removed immediately after someone leaves the company.
80% still leaves 20%. ;)
As evident by current events, security breaches happen, mistakes are made, people rise to the level of their incompetance.
Maybe his secretary had something to do with it, she seemed pretty sympathetic.
But then again, maybe Burgess did set it up...who really knows??
Great movie!
 

Max Leung

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The happy ended didn't bother me...if you read enough Philip K. Dick, it wouldn't bother you either. Uh, unless Philip K. Dick's stories bother you, of course! :)
Ever consider that the system administrator was on vacation for 3 weeks? Maybe they couldn't figure out how to deny access, and he wouldn't answer his pager ("I'm on vacation! Screw you!" -- I've known sysadmins that make sure this feature is part of their job description!).
Anyhow, it IS nitpicking. If that is the only thing in the movie that bothers you, then it is obviously a great movie. ;)
I also appreciate how they disproved the efficacy of the pre-crime system. You know how easy it is to exploit it? The movie only touched on one way to fool the system, but there are other, more creative ways (although it'll take me a while to come up with a way that would not be foiled by conventional old-fashioned detective work, so I'll leave it up to you guys to figure that out! ;) ). The pre-crime system, as described in the movie, would not prevent all premeditated murders.
Oops, actually I'm wrong...there are at least 2 ways to exploit it, as described in the movie! My bad.
htf_images_smilies_blush.gif
 

Larry Seno Jr.

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and his wife uses the same method to break in again...days, maybe weeks later.
THE MOVIE TAKES PLACE OVER A SPAN OF LESS THAN TWO DAYS!!!!!!!! COME ON PAY GODDAMNED ATTENTION

"I don't even know the man, but I'm supposed to kill him in less than 36 hours"

That happens on the FIRST DAY we watch in the movie.
 

Chuck C

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THE MOVIE TAKES PLACE OVER A SPAN OF LESS THAN TWO DAYS!!!!!!!! COME ON PAY GODDAMNED ATTENTION....That happens on the FIRST DAY we watch in the movie.
besides, his wife has a gat! ;)
did you also think that maybe every single cop is out looking for anderton that security at pre-crime is absent? It's a stretch, but hey.
 

EricW

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the GAP scene would have been great if, after Tom Cruise says "Mr Yakamoto?", another customer walks in, gets greeted and abruptly says "just looking" :)
why didn't Spielberg do anything with the fact that one of Anderton's new eyes was opened 6 hours early? or did he?
 

Eric Sevigny

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Interesting discussion.
Really, who could possibly disable the chiefs access codes? The green agent that took over the Precrime lab was shown not having any authority within the lab (access wise), he couldn't do it. The other cops surely couldn't simply disable their chief's code, I don't think they had that kind of authority (they couldn't even enter the Temple while John could). So it does leave just only one person : Lamarr.
There is every indication that he knows how the system works and can access the Precog's data, it isn't that much of a stretch to either assume he didn't care or let John have access based on what he saw from the Precog's visions (the presence of Agatha at the scene, hence letting the chain of event come to the conclusion the Precogs foresaw).
The mechanics of how Burgess made possible the John killing sequence of events is left up to the viewer to figure out, and I strongly think all the dots are there, you just have to do the connections yourself.
Afterall, they didn't also explain how Lara got pregnant at the end of the movie, we can figure it for ourselves :) Why would the part under discussion be any different?
If you want to believe everything needs to be laid out in extreme details for a film to "work", fine, whatever works for you.
 

Shane Gralaw

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I was wondering if there was some sort of distribution problem. I Fandangoed my tickets and noticed that it wasn't playing in that many theaters. When we got to the theater, it was only playing on one screen (this is a big theater that usually has blockbusters on 2-4 screens) and that screen was one of the smaller auditoriums. If this is the same situation everywhere, I could see why the opening take was small.
 

Patrick Sun

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At the nearby Regal theater, Lilo and Stitch for the 2 big theaters, while Minority Report got relegated to a much smaller theater. Theater owners know what puts butts in seats: animated kiddie movies that get both parents and their kids in the theater.
 

Tino

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Well the estimates are in and Minority Report comes in #1 with $36.9 million with Lilo and Stitch second with $35.8 million.
Really close. I predicted $35 million for Minority so I was pretty close. Let's see what the actuals bring.
And these are NOT disappointing numbers IMO.
BTW, I thought Minority Report was excellent and find these nitpicking arguments very amusing.;)
I say let's go pick on Windtalkers, a horrible film worthy of trashing and picking apart for a great multitude of reasons.:D
 

Dahna

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Dec 3, 1999
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Last night our Muvico 24 had two 8:45PM showtimes for MR. We got there at 8PM and they were sold out. We went to the 9:50 show and there were about 10 seats left. It was in one of the smaller theaters, but MR had the most screenings of the day.

I don't know if I was tired or what, but at the most I give this a 7 out of 10; I think all the glowing reviews made my expectations too high. I liked Vanilla Sky better.

Spoilers:
I did spot Cameron Crowe on the Metro, but not Cameron D. I don't think that was Lucy Liu in the mall. The bad - The ending was cheesy, my husband and I did roll our eyeballs at it. It started out that I hoped I'd be emotionally invested w/ JA, but I wasn't. I did like Colin Farrell as Witwer, I wanted more of his character, especially philosophically since he was in seminary. Interesting. You knew the bad guy from the beginning and I looked at my watch twice. The good - I liked the technology in the pre-crime unit control room. I loved when Agatha grabbed JA and there were some funny moments - the yoga scene had the theater chuckling. I liked the scene with Dr. Hineman the creator of the pre-cog unit,
that was interesting. The real-time Crow scene was gripping. The first 2/3 were best. I'm not willing to pay another $8.25 or even $5.75 to see it again, but I'd probably buy it on DVD for the extras.

About his eyeball - Since Anderton opened it w/ 6 hours to go, I assumed he was blind in that eye. However, my husband thought the sicko surgeon wanted revenge and lied when he told Anderton to wait 12 hours since it was a given that the precrime unit would look in the sprawl and the surgeon sicko was operating under that assumption, hoping John would be caught. Could be...

I'd say that for a summer flick, this was a treat; you don't usually do much thinking on these releases.

Maybe I should finally take a look at A.I.???
 

Chad R

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There is every indication that he knows how the system works and can access the Precog's data, it isn't that much of a stretch to either assume he didn't care or let John have access based on what he saw from the Precog's visions (the presence of Agatha at the scene, hence letting the chain of event come to the conclusion the Precogs foresaw).
But, no one knew Anderton would kidnap the pre-cog until Colin Farrell saw her in the room AFTER Anderton had broken back in using his old eye. Assuming that Burgess had orchestrated it, knowing that John would break back in, is a huge stretch. And if you want to assume that it was just a mistake, than leaving that mistake open for his wife to do the exact same thing at least a day later, that is a larger stretch.

But that hole was the least of my problems with the film.

I'm surprised no one has brought up the old "it was a dream" thing that is so common these days.
 

Eric Sevigny

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Chad, I am assuming the one responsible for the system (Burgess) knows better then the homicide cop that just got promoted and was playing with his new toy. i.e. Even though the precops and Farrell's character only knew when Anderton was in the Temple doesn't mean Burgess couldn't have known earlier. He successfully set up the whole chain of events, I'd assume he exactly knew what was in the precogs vision to the point of helping John furfill it. Lamarr isn't your average politician, he did help build the system and is clever enough to have fooled it at least once before. I don't have a problem with it, it perfectly fits the story. I wouldn't think the same if, for example, Burgess had only been a simple retired precop who attained some political influence.

"than leaving that mistake open for his wife to do the exact same thing at least a day later, that is a larger stretch"

Why? Did Lamarr have any reasons to even suspect John had switched eyes and that his wife had the old pair? He only started suspecting her just before his press conference. Add to that that John was in hibernation locked away, there was no urgency for him to revoke all of John's privileges. He could just wait for a new guy to be appointed as "chief", and only then do the access level switch. The whole movie doesn't span months, the events happen pretty quicly (I would assume in the space of 48 hours top).

I will not stand here and say MR is perfect in every way (what is). But I feel nitpicking it this way is similar to asking why does James Bond always gets away from those evil traps (if it can be reasonably rationalized using the film's elements, then I don't have any problem with it. Not everything needs to be laid out, and many things were left open in MR). It doesn't make for a bad movie, and I do feel sorry if some simply stuck on those and didn't get to "enjoy" it. MR has some excellent shots/symbolism/acting/directing/designs throughout and a genuinely compelling story (all IMHO of course), it kept me glued to the screen for the whole time, something I wasn't expecting - only a few films have that effect on me (Mulholland Drive is another one). It has something you can think about after the credit rolls, it's not merely consume & forget. Anyway, I'm just glad someone made a solid sci-fi movie for once, I had nearly thown the towel on the genre and thought we would get more senseless CGI fest as time goes by.


On to another topic. My local big cineplex's are only showing it on 2 screens total (and that's counting the french dubbed version, they have about 30-40 screens total). I thought that was caused by deals for Spiderman and AOTC showings that take all the space (i.e., X weeks on X of your better screens or you don't get it). I had to watch it in one of the arguably worse theater. Picture seemed fine but they either didn't have a right front channel or didn't know how to calibrate. The music portion of the film sounded mono throughout and only coming from the left front speaker.
 

Mike St.Louis

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Sep 22, 1999
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I noticed on the back of the USA Today paper that the temperature is STILL being reported in Fahrenheit! Is the USA ever going to adopt the metric system?

I guess there is no reason to buy a newspaper every day if the one you read keeps updating itself.
 

Patrick Sun

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Someone on another forum came up with the following thought on the reviews of the film, which I thought was pretty ironic, given the film's subject matter:
"The negative reviews (minority reports) reveal that the positive reviews (majority reports) may be incorrect. Think about it."
:)
 

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