Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4934 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-03
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 142 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Full of flawed characters and shot in grainy de-saturated colours, Steven Spielberg's Minority Report is futuristic film noir with a far-fetched B-movie plot that's so feverishly presented the audience never gets a chance to ponder its many improbabilities. Based on a short story by Philip K Dick, Minority Report is set in the Orwellian near-future of 2054, where a trio of genetically modified "pre-cogs" warn of murders before they happen. In a sci-fi twist on the classic Hitchcockian wrong man scenario, Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is the zealous precrime cop who is himself revealed as a future-killer. Plot twists and red herrings drive the action forward and complications abound, not least Anderton's crippling emotional state, his drug habit, his avuncular-yet-sinister boss (Max Von Sydow), and the ambitious FBI agent Witwer (Colin Farrell) snapping at his heels.

Though the film toys with the notion of free will in a deterministic universe, this is not so much a movie of grand ideas as forward-looking ones. Its depiction of a near-future filled with personalised advertising and intrusive security devices that relentlessly violate the right of anonymity is disturbingly believable. Ultimately, though, it's a chase movie and the innovative set-piece sequences reveal Spielberg's flair for staging action. As with A.I. before it, there's a nagging feeling that the all-too-neat resolution is a Spielbergian touch too far: the movie could satisfactorily have ended several minutes earlier. Though this is superior SF from one of Hollywood's greatest craftsmen, it would have been more in the spirit of Philip K Dick to leave a few tantalisingly untidy plot threads dangling.

On the DVD: Minority Report on disc brings up Janusz Kaminski's wonderfully subdued cinematography in an ideal anamorphic widescreen print. John Williams's Bernard Herrmann-esque score is the major beneficiary of Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS sound options. There is no commentary, and the movie plus everything on the second disc, which contains five short featurettes and an archive of text and visual material, could probably have been squeezed onto just one disc. The featurettes are: "From Story to Screen", "Deconstructing Minority Report", "The Stunts of Minority Report", "ILM and Minority Report" and "Final Report: Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise". There are subtitles in English and Scandinavian languages. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
DVD Special Features (To Be Confirmed):

Minority Report: From Story to Screen
Deconstructing Minority Report
The Stunts of Minority Report
ILM and Minority Report: Visual effects
Final Report: Conversation with Spielberg and Cruise
Minority Report Archives: A virtual Gallery
Sound: 5.1 DTS
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 and 2.40:1 Letterbox

Synopsis
The science-fiction thriller MINORITY REPORT, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, is based on a short story by renowned writer Philip K. Dick. In the year 2054, in Washington, D.C., murder has been eliminated thanks to Precrime, a program that uses the visions of three psychics, called Precogs (an abbreviation for precognitive thinkers), to arrest and imprison would-be murderers before they have a chance to kill. Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, a Precrime enforcer who believes in the system for his own personal reasons--years back his young son was abducted, and he has dealt with the loss by becoming a high-strung Precrime officer. The director of Precrime (Max von Sydow) is eager to take the program national, and feels threatened by an ambitious federal agent (Colin Farrell) who is bent on finding a flaw in the system. When Anderton finds himself accused of the future murder of a man he's never met, his faith in Precrime is instantly shaken. He goes on the run, and is trailed by the relentless Precrime police. In the tradition of BLADE RUNNER (also based on a Dick story), MINORITY REPORT is a dark, brooding vision of the future. Spielberg expertly mixes thrilling chase and suspense sequences (the best of which involves Anderton being pursued by eye-scanning mechanical spiders) and stunning special effects with a challenging look at society's willingness to sacrifice privacy and the notion of free will for convenience and security. MINORITY REPORT is a thought-provoking and exciting film that ranks with Spielberg's best.

Customer Reviews

CRUISE & SPEILBERG - DARK, BROODING AND MAGNIFICENT
Based on the novel by Sci-fi god Philip K Dick, Minority Report was Stephen Speilberg's stab at creating a dark and thoughtful futuristic who-dunnit in the mold of Blade Runner. Whilst it's not quite in the same league, Minority Report is still one of the most intelligent and best looking films Speilberg has had a hand in. His choice of pretty boy Cruise as his embattled lead is also inspired - pasty, hair shorn, close to emotional and physical breakdown - old Tom does a fine job playing against type.
The story involves 'Pre-Cogs' - people who can 'see' future crimes before they happen - the ultimate agenda being to totally eradicate murder and serious crime. When Cruise gets accused of a 'future' murder he goes on the run and is hunted by his former colleagues and friends.
What follows is a mix of old fashion thriller, action movie and a twisting detective story that keeps you guessing and enthralled until the satisfying conclusion. The fact that it's all played out against a futuristic and often visually stunning sci-fi backdrop is almost irrelevant.
Max Von Sydnow and Colin Farrell (in a very early supporting role) also give impressive performances and the whole film is smart and, for Speilberg, very dark and occasionally violent.
Despite, generally very favourable reviews, Minority Report didn't perform as well as expected on it's initial cinema release. It's far superior to the Speilberg/Cruise adaptation of War Of The Worlds which followed a few years later and also posessed a similarly dark and brooding look & feel.
One of Stephen Speilberg's lesser films, in the public's eyes at least, Minority Report is a sizzling Sci-fi thriller that just happens to look amazing. Definately worth re-investigation - and the scene with the fridge will turn your stomach.

Dog eggs!
Yet another convoluted story full of peril where mr Cruise doesn't have the decency to give us an early screen and story exit via death. Is his big face on the cover? You bet your bum it is. Does he pretend badly all the way through as in every film? Oh yes. The story is nonsense, the directing and editing is amateur, the camera angles are silly. Mr Cruise is exceptionally bad in this film, why can't he give up 'acting' and just do something useful like organ donation. Maybe he could get himself abducted by aliens or something.

A modern classic.
Sci-fi crime thriller set in the year 2054 about a policeman - played by Tom Cruise - who works in the Department of Precime in Washington D.C. which uses people with the gift of precognition to prevent murders before they happen. But one day the precognitives predict that Tom Cruise himself will commit a murder; a prediction that leads to Tom Cruise going on the run to clear his name and in the process uncovering a murder that happened in the past; one that somehow the Department of Precrime didn't know about. I found this to be a quite excellent film, with an intelligent plot, first-rate protagonist played by Tom Cruise and a wonderfully realised future world (the special effects really are something else). Spielberg is as usual in his element when making science fiction and this film is even better than the outstanding 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' which he made the year before. A flawless combination of exceptional story telling and science fiction vision that is quite simply film-making at its very best. A modern classic.