DVD Reviews

Minority Report – Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Apr 27, 2010, 15:58 GMT

Based on a short story by the late Philip K. Dick, this science fiction-thriller reflects the writer\'s familiar preoccupation with themes of concealed identity and mind control. Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, a Washington, D.C. detective in the year 2054. Anderton works for "Precrime," a special unit of the police department that arrests murderers before they have committed the actual crime. Precrime bases its work on the visions of ...more

The sci-fi thriller Minority Report arrives on Blu-ray looking incredibly sharp and with some decent special features to help make it worth the purchase price.

The film still has some problems, but it excels on the Blu-ray format – which made me enjoy it more than the first time I saw it on the big screen or on DVD.

Released in 2002, the film screamed huge blockbuster thanks to the team-up of Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg. It also benefited from being loosely based on a short story by sci-fi icon Philip K. Dick; having a score by the great John Williams; and visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.

The film also featured some solid performances by its supporting cast including Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Neal McDonough and the legendary Max Von Sydow.

The story was a bit difficult to follow at times (this being about my fourth time watching it I was able to pick up on stuff I missed the other times), but the visual effects and the film’s somewhat fast pace kept you hooked on what was happening on the screen.

In a nutshell, the story is set in the year 2054 with much of the action taking place in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia – where they have passed a law to allow a new kind of police force known as Precrime. The Precrime system uses three psychics that are known as the “precogs” (who have visions of the future) to determine when a murder is about to take place and then dispatches Precrime agents out to arrest the murderer before he can commit the crime.

The system is on the brink of going nationwide due to its overwhelming success in Washington – where it has all but stopped murder. The system works because the three precogs are never wrong, and their visions always show the same thing.

The Precrime unit is led by Precrime officer John Anderton, and the film starts off at a rocket pace introducing the audience to the way Anderton dissects the precogs’ visions so that he can figure out where the murder will take place. Once he has an idea of where the crime will happen, his team heads out to arrest the soon-to-be murderer.

As the Precrime initiative is about to go nationwide, it is under close scrutiny by the lawmakers – who send in Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer (Farrell) to examine the operation. Although Cruise’s boss Lamar Burgess (Sydow) tells him to be nice to the agent, Cruise immediately meets Witwer with suspicion.

It doesn’t help that Witwer seems determined to find a flaw in the system and that he breaks protocol by going down to meet the precogs – who are kept in a vegetative state and have no human interaction except with their handler. Witwer also starts to believe Anderton might not be as great as his reputation due to a secret drug habit and the way he is tormented by the loss of his son.

The movie keeps a fast pace so it is a tad difficult to keep up with the dense story as Anderton starts to question just how accurate the precogs’ visions are when he learns of the Minority Report (when one cog’s vision is different than the other two), and is then sent on the run after the precogs determine he is about to commit the murder of a man he has never met.

With his back to the wall and his fellow Precrime officers on his trail, Anderton is forced to get an eye swap (in a great bit of visual effects); kidnap Agatha (the most powerful of the three precogs); discover why he is predicted to kill a man; and reveal the flaw in Precrime thanks to the Minority Report.

Once Cruise is on the run, the film really kicks into overdrive with visual effects working to help keep you hooked on the screen regardless of how lost you might be in the story. It all wraps together by the end, and never gets too far out of the audience reach thanks to the talent of the actors on the screen.

Cruise is in his standard larger-than-life form as he jumps from speeding cars, takes on groups of his Precrime officers, takes down a system that until now had never been beat, and solves the mystery by the time the credits roll.

The box office star also does a solid performance as a father haunted by the lost of his son – which he blames on himself. The boy was taken at a swimming pool while his father was supposed to be watching him and was never seen again. The loss of the child destroyed Anderton’s marriage and his life – causing an addiction to an illegal drug and an obsession with watching old home movies of the child.

Farrell also does a good job as an agent out to nail Cruise both for the crime he is going to commit and as proof that Precrime doesn’t work. It is a bit unclear if he is against Precrime because it could put him out of a job or because it is a blatant violation of people’s freedom.

Although the film has solid work from all of its actors, it biggest attraction is the visual effects – which continue to hold up eight years later. This is a movie that would fit in with the visual work being done today and manages to look great on Blu-ray. From the crawling spiders that attack Cruise after the eyeball swap to the action sequence where Cruise jumps from speeding car to speeding car, Minority Report is a thrill ride that gives the audience everything it paid for.

In addition to the great picture (in glorious 1080p) and sound, the Blu-ray is also well worth the upgrade due to the amount of new special features that are included. It also has several of the features that were included on the DVD release. The new features include Steven Spielberg's take on the future; a look at the world of Precrime; the previz sequences; a feature on Philip K. Dick; and several behind the scenes looks at the making of the film and its journey to the screen.

Older features include From Story to Screen; Deconstructing Minority Report; The Stunts of Minority Report; ILM and Minority Report; Final Report; Production Concepts; Storyboard Sequences; and Trailers (HD).

Minority Report is a film that still holds up and manages to entertain with multiple viewings. The film looks incredible on Blu-ray and is well-worth the upgrade.

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