Minority Report [2 Discs] [Blu-ray]

Overview

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 three psychics or "precogs" whose prophecies of future events are never in error. When Anderton discovers that he has been identified as the future killer of a man he's never met, he is forced to become a fugitive from his own colleagues as he tries to uncover the mystery of the victim-to-be's identity. When he kidnaps Agatha (Samantha Morton), one of the precogs, he begins to formulate a theory about a possible frame-up from within his own department. Directed by Steven Spielberg, who hired a team of futurists to devise the film's numerous technologically advanced gadgets, Minority Report co-stars Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow, and Neal McDonough.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/20/2010
UPC:	0097360746747
Original Release:	2002
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Dreamworks Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound, Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	2:26:00
Sales rank:	4,408

Special Features

The Future According to Steven Spielberg; Inside the World of Precrime; Philip K. Dick, Steven Spielberg and Minority Report; Minority Report: Future Realized; Minority Report: Props of the Future; Highlights from Minority Report: From the Set; Minority Report: Commercials of the Future; Previz Sequences

Editorial Reviews

Chalk up another triumph for Steven Spielberg, whose latest sci-fi effort ranks among his very best films. Minority Report, a futuristic thriller based on a story by author Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner), is also something of a tour de force for Tom Cruise. He plays police officer John Anderton, whose "future crimes" task force uses scientific technology and psychic premonitions to identify contemplated crimes and arrest the would-be perpetrators before they follow through with them. This expansive, revolutionary approach to law enforcement, overseen by visionary Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow), seems to be foolproof -- until Anderton himself is identified as the potential murderer of a man he’s never met. Minority Report’s script synthesizes sci-fi stories, psychological thrillers, and police procedurals; the result is a complex melodrama that plays out like a particularly intricate whodunit. Spielberg’s trademark virtuosity manifests itself in the film’s striking visuals and elaborately staged action sequences. But the muscular performances of Cruise, von Sydow, and Colin Farrell (as a skeptical cop who becomes Anderton’s nemesis) -- along with those of supporting players Lois Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, and Steve Harris -- keep the story’s human element in the forefront and prevent the film from becoming an extravagantly produced piece of eye candy. To those disappointed by Spielberg’s previous genre offering, A.I., Minority Report will be seen as a much-welcome return to form.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

In adapting one of Philip K. Dick's dystopian tales, Steven Spielberg has a tough act to follow after Blade Runner (1982) survived its box office death via E.T. (1982) to become one of the 1980s' most revered films. Rising to the challenge in eye candy and entertainment, if not philosophical depth, Minority Report (2002) finds Spielberg in top action form. With the desaturated photography lending a steely-gray cast to the deliriously high-tech activity, Spielberg neatly lays out the workings of the ominously potent Precrime outfit that sacrifices the freedom of the individual for the safety of all. The film really kicks into gear, however, once Tom Cruise's Precrime honcho John Anderton is fingered by the super-psychic Pre-Cogs and, true to Cruise form, runs. The pure cinematic pleasure in Cruise's adrenaline-rush escape from spirited G-man nemesis Colin Farrell through Washington D.C. is matched by his arrival at the lushly verdant mutant paradise cultivated by Precrime godmother Lois Smith; the rampant product placement throughout becomes a witty comment on the perils of bureaucratic omniscience. Spielberg sabotages the ending, however, by refusing to let the audience get a thought in edgewise. After over-explaining the paradoxes of Precrime, Spielberg and company negate the prior 90 minutes of sublimely bleak sci-fi noir by giving Cruise his obligatory star hero moment before ending on a vision of bucolic freedom strikingly at odds with the story's apparent implications. Sleekly crafted nevertheless, Minority Report is still an engaging walk on the safely Spielbergian dark side.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola

The film is magnificently creepy, a calculated bad dream that stays with you like the best of Roger Corman. Elvis Mitchell

New York Times

This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill.

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert

One of [Spielberg's] most compelling and entertaining films ever. Kirk Honeycutt

Hollywood Reporter

This is the kind of pure entertainment that, in its fullness and generosity, feels almost classic. Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle