Posted 12:34 PM by Robert

Minority of One Report?

Alone among the reviews I have seem of the new Spielberg movie Minority Report, Joe Morgenstern is savage [link requires paid subscription]- all the worse for Mr. Spielberg that Mr. Morgenstern's savaging obviously comes with great reluctance.

Some choice Morgenstern anti-blurbs:

Has Mr. Spielberg, one of the greatest entertainers in movie history, given up on entertainment? Though his movie wraps challenging ideas and ingenious visual conceits in a futurist film-noir style, it's pretentious, didactic and intentionally but mercilessly bleak in ways that classic noir never was.

"Minority Report " punishes our need for pleasure.

But what a sour and oppressive vision it turns out to be, notwithstanding a few exciting chases, some elaborate (though occasionally tacky) special effects, a haunting performance by Samantha Morton as one of the Pre-Cogs, and the sentimentality of a tacked-on coda.

Why does a Spielberg film that is a Spielberg film revel in such repugnant, assaultive images as a slovenly doctor performing eye surgery in a pigsty apartment?

The trouble with "Minority Report " is a conflict between medium and content, between an old impulse to entertain and a new desire to scarify.

On the long journey from "1941" to 2054, more has been lost than gained.

How many people would go to a movie with "it's pretentious, didactic and intentionally but mercilessly bleak!" on the poster? This review seems to expand on the old publisher's rejection letter: "Your manuscript is good and original, unfortunately ..." Does the existence of one such high-profile condemnation qualify this movie as opening to "mixed reviews?" Maybe that's just "generally positive reviews."

I am still withholding judgment on the film (I mean the movie). For one thing, I disagree with some things in this review, especially Mr. Morgenstern's statement that: "The story is so timely that the director and his colleagues might pass for Pre-Cogs themselves. It raises questions both momentous and of the moment, when we're struggling to reconcile civil rights with pressure for pre-emptive action against potential terrorists."

For reasons discussed previously, in all meaningful respects this assertion is dead wrong in my view.

And, more generally, I question if Mr. Spielberg, whose work seems to reveal a remorseless drive to extirpate all subtlety and nuance, can really be called "one of the greatest entertainers in movie history?" I don't question the wisdom of studios that hire Mr. Spielberg and rely on his judgment. And I'm not saying that high box-office receipts and high-gain cartoon-like effects don't have their place - but complete reliance on them also puts the director in his place.