Friday, November 04, 2005

Here an eyeball, there an eyeball...


Tonight I saw Minority Report for the first time. Ew. Ick. Weird.

Thought-provoking.

Without giving away too much of the plot, murder in DC is eliminated, thanks to three goopy, pale kids who spend their lives floating around in a tank of who-knows-what and seeing visions of future murders (what a life!). The pre-crime division just waltzes in, nabs the future felon, dusts off its hands and goes back for another donut. Well, a few twists, a couple turns, and some eyeballs later (just see the movie), we the audience learn that just because an action is predicted doesn’t mean you don’t have a choice. You can fulfill the prediction or you can choose to behave otherwise.

WHAT? YOU MEAN, I HAVE A RESPONSIBLE ROLE IN MY OWN ACTIONS???

The introduction of the concepts of moral free will and human error leads to the dismantling of the entire pre-crime program just when it’s on the brink of implementation on a federal level.

Pretty interesting, Spielberg, but I’m holding out hope for a sequel, one that asks WHY we have the ability to make moral choices and WHY we as humans will never be free of error. Holding out hope, not holding my breath. I’m not stupid; this is Hollywood after all.

But I think a sequel would work—if we threw in a few more eyeballs, we might actually see some of the truth struggling to come to light in this movie.

2 comments:

Steve Sheppard said...

Gwen, your writing is witty and sassy. We must be chipped from the same chunk of rare earth -- of gold, beaten gold figurines, buffed into a shimmer.

Steve

Charlie said...

Without giving away the details? Like this movie hasn't been seen by everyone yet?