Unsung Heroes: The Think Tank of 'Minority Report'
Friday, July 15, 2011 at 10:31AM Michael C here from Serious Film. With Spielberg poised to dominate the end of the year discussion with the one-two punch of Tin Tin and War Horse, I felt now was a perfect time to look back at his last film I enjoyed without reservation.
On screen, every historical era comes packaged with its own handy kit of movie clichés, most likely because a lot of lazy screenwriters did no more research than to watch other movies. The Old West has the bartender drying the glass with a rag and the draw down over someone a-cheatin’ at cards. Medieval periods come standard with a foppish lute player and a crowd of filth encrusted peasants. You know the drill.
This gets particularly egregious with movies set in the future. The majority of stories opt for either the Blade Runner urban hellscape treatment or the slick, sterile 2001 route. Each approach has its appeal but seldom do either have a real ring of truth. To my mind the most plausible vision of the future was done in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report. More than any film I’ve seen the 2054 of Report is recognizably a believable extension of the time we live in.
This was the result of a lot more than clever art direction. Spielberg was determined to have the most believable future world ever put to film. So where most directors would lock a bunch screenwriters in a room to brainstorm variations on the flying car, the man who directed E.T. convened a three-day think tank of the world’s brightest minds, including computer scientists, biomedical researchers, the architectural dean of MIT and various other luminaries, to brainstorm a bible of predictions for his production team to work from.
Let me quickly add that Mr. Spielberg should get points here for not letting all this technical info stymie his movie’s artistic mojo. It seems to have had the opposite effect, providing the film with a springboard for some unforgettably imaginative riffs, from the Fantastia-evoking conducting of the computer screen to the creepy metallic spiders that skitter about scanning retinas.
And now that it’s 2011 and the future world Minority Report envisioned is nine years away from fantasy and toward being a provable or disprovable collection of educated guesses, what do we find? Turns out so far Minority Report was scary accurate in ways too numerous to list here.
It may not be surprising to learn that the identity recognition advertisements are in the works or that the use of retina scan equipment is become increasingly prevalent, but would you be surprised to learn that that the US Military is developing work along the lines of Report’s insect robots? Or how about the fact that crime prediction software is being developed at the University of Pennsylvania attempting to predict future crimes based on past ones? True, it’s not exactly Samantha Morton floating in a tank of milky water, but it’s way too close for my taste.
Most future-set movies eventually inspire chuckles at its creators for assuming we would all be zipping around in jetpacks by the late 70’s or some similar naïveté. So far, Minority Report appears to be experiencing the opposite fate. One where we look back and admit we can’t say we weren’t warned.
Reader Comments (7)
Children of Men has a pretty realistic vision of a future world gone to shit.
I haven't seen Minority Report (or Children of Men, but thank you for the reminder, Rahulio!); I remember reading about the art direction of Blade Runner and at that time, the creators thought it was a fairly realistic portrait of where LA seemed to be heading - or at least a possibility (and still is, IMO.) So Michael, would you say MR is more "realistic" for you than BR?
In terms of "accuracy" - if Spielburg did indeed convene a think-tank of top-shelf scientists, researches, etc, then why should there be any surprise that the predictions (thus far) are "accurate"? No doubt that at least some of those think-tank luminaries were working on the very items the film predicts (the Bourne films do the same with the handprint-identification software, which is now being used by Tennessee and Georgia to track applicants to the physical therapy boards in those states, etc.) Can it be called "produce placement" when the article hasn't been invented quite yet?
What other director besides Spielberg, btw, would have the status (and money - other than, say, Lucas and Cameron) to put together such a think-tank?
Samantha Morton shoulda been considered for Best Supporting Actress here :)
Can i request "Unsung Heroes: The Score of CIDER HOUSE RULES".... still to this day when I hear it in the Pure Michigan commercials I get chills!... Bravo Rachel Portman!
good call, that score is so pretty!
Janice - I would say Minority Report is more realistic version of the future than Blade Runner, but I would hasten to add that "more realistic" in no way equals "better" Simply that Blade Runner takes more artistic license. Blade Runner's visual brilliance can't be denied.
And I agree that are precious few with the pull to put together such a group, but does Spielberg not deserve credit for using his resources to such creative ends? A quick look around the summer releases proves that big bucks seldom translate to big creativity.
David - Agree 100%
Johanna - Hmmm. The score doesn't come immediately to mind. I will have to check it out. I do enjoy Rachel Portman.
contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.-Titoni watches Swiss