Minority Report ***
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Philip K. Dick (short story); Scott Frank and Jon Cohen (screenplay)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Tim Blake Nelson and Samantha Morton
Rated PG-13 (violence, language, asking questions)

Science fiction – that is, good science fiction – is never ‘about’ the future. It is about the present. Fiction as a whole does not exist in a vacuum. Sci-fi is even less inside a vacuum. Sci-fi authors are able to ask questions that need to be asked and present ideas that need to be presented. But, because they tend to have things like robots and laser guns and spaceships, they are dismissed by the public. The public is right to do so, for the most part. There is loads and loads of sci-fi that is just terrible. The truly good stuff, however, shouldn’t even be called science fiction. Speculative fiction is a better term.

Now, it’s one thing to write a synopsis of the plot of Minority Report – it’s another thing entirely to tell you what it was ‘about’. I’m gonna try to do my best.

John Anderton (Cruise) is the chief of the Department of Precrime in Washington, DC. The Department of Precrime is charged with arresting murderers before they kill their victims. The murders are seen by three Pre-cogs – people who see, with great detail, murders that happen in the future. Precrime deals only with homicide, simply because the killing of one person by another person is so jarring to the metaphysical world that it is the only crime that can be pre-seen accurately. In the 6 years of Precrime’s trial run, murder in Washington, DC has dropped to zero. Not one murder. Sometimes there are close calls, but the officers have always been able to stop the crime from happening. The pre-murderer is arrested, mentally incapacitated with a device known as a halo, and is imprisoned. All three Pre-cogs, named Agatha (Morton), Dashiell (Matthew Dickman) and Arthur (Michael Dickman) see different things, but, combined, the images are nearly identical. Precrime is poised to go national, but before it does, Ed Witwer (Farrell) has been assigned by the Attorney General to see if there are any flaws in the system. When Anderton is charged with the precrime of murder, it sure looks like there are flaws. Many, many flaws.

I’m gonna talk about the movie itself here, and save the philosophy until the end, because if I don’t, you’ll get bored and go away.

There are no doubts in my mind that Steven Spielberg is one of the best filmmakers in history. Certainly he’s the best one working today. While Stanley Kubrick is still my favorite director of all time, Spielberg is able to appeal to the general public in a way that no other director I can think of is able to. He is in a phase in his career right now that can only lead to even greater things. I’m sure that Schindler’s List will be his magnum opus for many people, but I am more interested in seeing where he’s going. With A.I., he directed a Stanley Kubrick movie, but was able to bring his own sensibilities and ‘trademarks’ to it. It was a fairly dark story, but it still worked. There have always been sinister undercurrents in his work (adults who don’t remember what it’s like to be a child, Nazis, growing up – all things that, really, are scary in their own way), but now he is more able to deal with darker ideas. He has said that there is no way he could make E.T. today. He is no longer that idealistic. Of course, I imagine that talking to Holocaust survivors would tend to make one’s worldview a bit bleak. I really like this phase in his career. He’s not completely embittered, but he’s not going to candycoat anything.

Janusz Kaminski is the only cinematographer that matters. End of story. When he’s working with Spielberg, he is unstoppable.

The casting in this movie was perfect. The performances all outstanding, especially the exchanges between Cruise and Farrell.

I only have two complaints about the movie. The first was with the film itself. Now, I am all for action sequences. Chases, explosions, spaceships, guns, all that stuff is really good. The only problem was, in this movie, the main action sequence didn’t feel right with the rest of the movie. It was almost slapstick, and I thought it detracted from the overall quality of the film. The other complaint was with the person who assembled the reels before showing the movie. The second-to-the-last reel was loaded backwards, which meant that the audience had to wait for almost 30 minutes to see the end of the movie. A film is an experience. The lights go down, the surround sound kicks in, and there you are. Having to sit and wait lessens the overall impact of the experience, whether it’s a simple action movie or a kiddie flick or a drama – you’re drawn out of your suspension of disbelief, and it’s tough to get back into the flow.

Now it’s time for what I thought the movie was actually about. Feel free to imagine a drumroll.

By arresting someone before they commit a crime, you are altering the future. You have arrested someone for a crime that they did not commit. Yes, they were going to commit the crime, but the did not. They did not have the opportunity. You have taken away something that makes them human – free will. They were no longer able to choose to kill or not to kill. What if, at the last second, they did not commit the crime? You have arrested an innocent person. There are no trials, no judges, no juries. The decision of Precrime is final. What if you, or the Pre-cogs, made a mistake? What is the point in saving the life of someone who wasn’t going to be killed? How much faith do you have in the system? How much freedom are you willing to sacrifice to feel safe?

That’s another issue – freedom and privacy. The movie is absolutely filled with advertising. Here are the products I remember: Aquafina, Nokia, Pepsi, Lexus, Kawasaki and American Express. Part of the product placement was simply to reinforce the ‘reality’ of the world. It wasn’t there simply to advertise, it wasn’t parodied, it wasn’t mocked – it was simply there. My favorite movie of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey featured Hilton hotels, AT&T and Pan-Am. Advertising in and of itself is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. But, the ways that the advertising was presented in Minority Report was a little bit scary. Identification is based on retinal scans in the world of 2054. Say you’re walking through a mall. A scanner identifies you, and a holographic salesperson appears, saying, “Welcome back, Grant. We’re running a special on those polos you like so much,” or “Grant Bennett, wouldn’t you love to take a trip to Hawaii? To be eligible to win, all you have to do is make three more purchases with your MasterCard. You haven’t been using it lately. Why not use it today?” How much privacy do we want? How much do we need? Technology is already in the works to place a call to your cellphone to notify you of sales at stores you walk by. Face-scanning technology has already been used at the Superbowl. Spielberg doesn’t pass judgement on the technology in this movie; he simply presents it as part of the world. I’m not sure I want that world.

It’s wonderful to see a good movie based on the work of Philip K. Dick. Dick was one of the most remarkable sci-fi authors I have ever encountered. Blade Runner is based on his story “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” which asked the question “What determines ‘life’? Is artificial life any less valid than ‘real’ life?” Total Recall was based on his short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”, which dealt with the issue of our own memories. What do we remember? Do we actually remember it, or did we make it up? Philip K. Dick was able to write stories using God as a character without it seeming awkward or contrived. He is also the only person who I believe actually had a religious vision in the 20th Century. If you’re curious about him, check Philip K. Dick.com.

I chose to watch Minority Report this week because I am a fan of Spielberg and P.K. Dick. However, I do have a good feeling about the other movie opening at The Hangar this week, Lilo and Stitch. I’m glad to see Disney actually taking some risks in their animated features, instead of just churning out a musical ever 2 years or so.