Minority Report: Why does everyone love this movie?

[Johnny_Short_Torso]

This movie has for one, covered a very general topic that has been done thousands of times before in Ray Bradbury novels and Twilight Zone episodes. Honestly, I mean what's with all the techno-babble and gibberish throughout the movie as if we are meant to sympathize, understand or care? There is obviously an inherent fallacy within the concept that if police can see the future then they can arrest people before they commit a crime. The whole plot, or most of it is centralized around Tom "No really, I'm not a short little BS artist!" Cruise is seen shooting a guy who he thinks kidnapped and killed his son. Now unfortunately this turns out to be very silly, at least to me, who has always believed ever since Quantum Leap, Back to the future, ect, ect that HISTORY CAN BE CHANGED! Tom goes to get a "Pre comp" or some other made up crap just like in BattleField earth(Which this movie is only slightly better than IMHO) and she babbles and babbles and eventually some crap happens, Max Von Sydow, the boss of the copper dude force is killed, which of course was always the inevitable end result! That's all the movie is, an inevitable end result consisting of predictable outcomes, people vomiting(well.. in the audience, anyway), and guys jumping on hovercars. None of this makes for an interesting or compelling sci-fi movie in the least. I am pretty sure my opinion is valid, all the people I have talked to about this movie in person have had an intense dislike or hatred of it as well. Oh... and War of the worlds(2005) isn't any better. 

[ScottotD]

The Tom Cruise hating shite is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO old.

[Edward J Grug III]

Tom Cruise or no, that movie sucks balls.

[mrbasehart]

I like Minority Report.  The ending is a little too nice, especially for a Phillip K Dick story, but I enjoyed the hell out of the movie.

[Nunyerbiz]

I liked it a lot more than Battlefield Earth or War of the Worlds. I'll agree that the whole exercise was pretty much paint-by-numbers without any real intriguing twists or turns, but I thought it was an enjoyable enough rental. I think Cruise can deliver good performances and he was solid in this one. 

[BEERxTaco]

I agree that Cruise can deliver if A) he wants to and B) it's a decent script.

That said, Days of Thunder deserves a riff, what with the popularity of Nascar these days and the totally improbable (but predictable) story...

[Grillslinger]

Minority Report was fun and exciting. The characters were very interesting to watch, even the ones in minor roles. Good performances all around, good visual effects...overall a good film to watch.

[Blueguy]

If you believe history cannot be changed, why do you bother watching a movie that has time travel elements in it? 
Even so, you may be absolutely right about that, but it's a fictional movie.  Trying to impose real beliefs onto a movie you're watching sort of defeats the purpose of watching, and trying to enjoy, the movie in the first place.

[torgosPizza]

Just thought I'd drop this at your attention, Johnny. It's an article from the Guardian.

It's about a brainscan machine that can read people's intentions. The first step towards a real "Minority Report" world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2009229,00.html

[Natureboy]

I will step up and admit that I hated Minority Report, and not because of Cruise (even though I think he sucks).  I think Spielberg made this film really awful.

[Johnny_Short_Torso]

If you believe history cannot be changed, why do you bother watching a movie that has time travel elements in it? 

Uhh... I believe I said history can be changed in my original post....

I will step up and admit that I hated Minority Report, and not because of Cruise (even though I think he sucks).  I think Spielberg made this film really awful.

No, Cruise didn't make the film awful, it was already like that anyway as far as I'm concerned. I can't understand how anyone can be entertained by the movie. I typically judge movies/tv shows by how "rewatchable" they are. That being said, Minority Report is unwatchable to me.

And as for brain scan machines... as far as I know the results of those are not and probably never will be made admissable in any US court. You'll always have experts, scientists and psychiatrists arguing each side of the issue, never to come to a resolution. BTW.... I love modern Psychiatry!!

[Raven]

The only thing that I liked about this movie was the way the they blended the modern world with an interpretation of the future.  Most movies that take place in the future have an entirely new landscape.  I think this one was more realistic blending old parks into the backgrounds and mixing the new technology.  Just something I noticed.  That's really the only thing I really liked.  The plot was alright but nothing to put onto a top ten list or anything. 

[MarkAndrew]

<Spoliers follow>
Well here's a few reasons:
1.  A good discussion of precognition and paradox
2.  Good, almost photo-realistic effects and technology...I imagine we'll be seeing things like tailored ads, VR porn, computer displays and ubiquitous billboards in my lifetime...possibly in this decade.
3.  Unconventional lead situation...junkie cop has been done before but TC handled it well...and it's against type for him.
4.  Subversive subtext...now this is a bit apocryphal* but bear with me.  The first cut of Minority Report has the narrative ends with TC being lowered into the cell.  Everything that followed afterwards was a dream sequence of TC.  So, the stupid Hollywood ending...was intentional subversion.  You can still see strong elements of this in the final picture.  Too many drones found that cut confusing...well dream sequences aren't the best thing is movies anyway.  So it was re-cut, Pre-crime was stopped, the psis were rehabilitated and...the murder rate in DC shoots way, way up.  What?  You didn't see that last title card?  Most people didn't  I saw a pre-release cut (semi-unethically) that mentioned the Murder rate in DC shooting way up after Pre-Crime was shut down.  Spielberg cut it from the theatrical release.
  But imagine if he left it in...then the ending becomes a bit more gray.  I mean, isn't it worth the risks and sacrifices of a few to safeguard the lives of many?

So, the movie provided fertile ground for me to imagine in.  If you want to go by shot-by-shot what was in the theatrical release, then it's just a standard sci-fi action film.  And that's ok too.

*Second hand word of mouth from someone who was in the early test screening.

[Petey Wheatstraw]

I once picked up a home video guide book, and took a look at some of the ratings of my favorite movies:

The Last House on the Left got a "turkey" rating.
Dune (David Lynch) got a "turkey" rating.
The Lord of the Rings (Ralph Bakshi) got a "turkey" rating.

Then I saw the rating on this piece of shit.

Minority Report got....four stars?!?

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

as far as I know the results of those are not and probably never will be made admissable in any US court.

only because intent to do something isnt always relevant to the trial.  certainly they would never allow a machine that could determine something like truth into a trial.