DIRECTED BY STEVEN SPIELBERG | #20 "MINORITY REPORT" (2002)

[@matthewlong3710]

Yes indeed, a very underrated flick-- in Spielberg's oeuvre, and in general. Scott Frank wrote a freaking amazing, lean, powerhouse of a script.

[@remsan03]

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. A lot of good stuff in it: the story, the twist, and the prediction of what future would look like is pretty spot on. The movie is set in 2054, and in 30 years we could have most of what that world has. - The personalized advertisement. We already have that. We google for a microwave, and you see ads in Insta, or Facebook. - When John arrived home, he turns on the light and tv by speech, just like Alexa. - Self driving car. Hello, Tesla? - Identification by retina. We have face biometrics that are used to unlock our phones, and opening account at the banks. - And when AI is advanced enough, it's not impossible to predict people's behavior or action. Just like the Precogs. Now, there are fantastical technological advances that are way too out there like the spider crawler, or the digital pleasure house. But overall this world is far more probable than - let's say - Dune, or Blade Runner. You could say that it's because those are set far further in the future. I love the sequence of John running away with Agatha. Her being the Precog was telling him to "take the umbrella", "turn left here", or "Wait... wait.." Oh god, it's so good and clever. But those are just the icing. The cake is the juicy story. This movie is able to remain personal in a sci-fi setting. When Agatha tells John about his son, what he could have been. That made John cried, and got me tearing up. "There's so much love in this house." Looking forward to your War of the World review. Another one of my favorite.

[@remsan03]

Also, it got a bit about running. Sean wanted to run as fast as John. It's funny, because ya know, Tom Cruise is known for his running.

[@kiksta]

Fantastic analysis as always! I should consult with you before my videos cause your points always remind me of how many things I didn't talk about 😂 But yeah it is a great film that was truly ahead of its time and I think is quite underrated, at least compared to Spielberg's other filmography. War of the World will come! A couple others to get to before it though...

[@remsan03]

@@kiksta You're doing great already, mate. My depth of insights are usually for the things I like, or passionately abhore like Rings of Power, or Disney, or Meghan Markle. Haha. So, to do a director's retrospective like you've done requires a balanced approach, which you have. I really enjoy this series.

[@kiksta]

@@remsan03 Haha thanks man, I'm glad you're enjoying this series! It's definitely the thing I'm most passionate about making at the moment, gonna be sad when it comes to and end lol... Oh God, Rings of Power...

[@remsan03]

@@kiksta He is one of the greatest directors to ever grace the silver screen. So, he is a worthy subject.

[@deansal9222]

Love Minority Report. First watched it in May 2018 and was blown away. Spielberg's Most Underrated Film!

[@kiksta]

There's only a few Spielberg films I haven't seen but of the ones I have, I think yes it might be his most underrated.

[@deansal9222]

@@kiksta Yep. People always tend to mention Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, E.T, Saving Private Ryan and Raiders but never this film!

[@kiksta]

@@deansal9222 I think the distinction is that those films you listed were groundbreaking in different ways. They were each massive achievements in cinema. Where as Minority Report, as great as it is, didn't influence cinema in the same ways those films did.

[@deansal9222]

@@kiksta That’s probably true, but the way the film showcased technology was truly ahead of its time

[@kiksta]

@@deansal9222 Agreed!

[@BabyArms]

Good video. I appreciate how mercifully short the plot summary was and am really happy that you jumped right into talking about the visual language of film. I think focusing on the less obvious details and discussing the movie as a whole within the context of Spielberg's other movies sets you apart from other people who talk about film. Minority Report became one of my favorite movies after I made a big analysis video on it about a year and a half ago. It's on my channel if you're curious. I think it's the best thematic analysis of the movie on KZbin. The degree to which little pieces of meaning are coded into visual elements is astounding. Minority Report is ridiculously ambitious in its visual storytelling. Anyway, shameless self-promotion aside, I'm glad I stumbled across this video.

[@kiksta]

Wow dude that’s really kind words, really appreciate that and glad you enjoyed the video! Yes this Spielberg series is very much about focusing on the aspects of his films that make them “Spielbergian”, and less about reviewing the films from top to bottom. I do that with many other films and shows on my channel though. That’s really cool, I’ll have to check out your video. Will leave a comment once I have 😊 Haha promote all you want, I don’t mind 👍

[@BabyArms]

@@kiksta Thanks! I actually haven't seen all that many of Spielberg's movies, but there's a detail in Minority Report that carries certain symbolism that a commenter on my video told me appears in a very similar way in another of Spielberg's works, something older that's totally unrelated to Minority Report. That means that it's almost certainly an idea that he's had for a long time that he chooses to communicate visually now and then. I think that's extremely fascinating. I'd always thought of him more as a goofy fun director before learning that-obviously phenomenal at what he does, but not particularly concerned with trying to make anything with a ton of depth. But I think maybe I wasn't giving him enough credit.

[@kiksta]

@BabyArms hmmm that’s interesting, I wonder which older Spielberg film they were referring to as thematically similar to Minority Report? The film I think it has most in common with is A.I., but that was literally the film before Minority Report so not sure… Yes I feel like today Spielberg is very underrated because people regard him as a “mainstream” director, but they forget just how great his films are and WHY they are great. His style of filmmaking literally shaped modern blockbusters of the last 30 years. To me he’s the GOAT but I understand people have different tastes and that’s fine.