Still Watching the Skies: Episode 144 “Minority Report”

By Robert Reineke

Our precogs have seen that you would stop here and listen to our podcast. It would be a precrime not to listen. You have no free will as you listen to Cody, Robert, and Nat discuss Steven Spielberg’s take on Philip K. Dick in 2002’S MINORITY REPORT.

In the wake of 9/11 and the Patriot Act, Steven Spielberg did his take on the surveillance state. And this state was surveilling the future in an effort to change things. What could go wrong with the system portrayed in MINORITY REPORT?

If that were all the Spielberg was interested in, it would have been enough. But he builds on it with some thrilling state of the art special effects and a film style, with frequent collaborator Janusz Kaminski, that could be called something like Film Blanc to create one of his most visually striking films.

MINORITY REPORT is a film where you can see all of the principals firing on all cylinders. Tom Cruise with his leading man charisma and commitment. Spielberg indulges in his humor, expert blocking, and willingness to goose the audience. And Janusz Kaminski creates a striking visual style that has been much imitated.

We’re probably halfway through the timeline from 2002 to the world of MINORITY REPORT. And we have perspective on what MINORITY REPORT got right about the future, the digital surveillance state seems to be all around us, and what it got wrong, newspapers for one. We admire its vision of the future and debate whether it matters or not that it’s not fully accurate in its predictions.

We also wonder just how seriously Steven Spielberg is taking Philip K. Dick’s premise. We explore the alternate reading of the ending and puzzle through that. Is Spielberg willing to engage in ambiguity? Or not? And what’s with all the religious and eyeball imagery?

We have a lively conversation as everyone is engaged by the film. Maybe Philip K. Dick just brings that out of us. Regardless, we engage with the visuals, story, and themes of the film and have a lot to say.

No need to blindly heed psychic visions of the future to enjoy the podcast; give us a play below or download the episode. Also, feel free to let us know what you think by commenting on our page at Facebook or you can Email Us at skiespocast@gmail.com as we appreciate feedback.

Time tracks:
0:00:00 – MINORITY REPORT Discussion
1:18:21- Next Movie and Outro

Next month, Jim Laczkowski joins us as we take a trip to the cosmos courtesy of Joe Dante’s EXPLORERS. We hope you’ll join us.

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Robert Reineke

Robert Reineke was born in the dark era before cable television, but somehow survived based on a steady diet of Universal Monsters, Hammer Horror, 1950s science fiction, and Godzilla on his local UHF station. As a college student, he discovered the works of David Lynch and Akira Kurosawa which opened up different vistas for him. When he’s not doing useful things like heading up environmental investigations and cleanups or designing sewers, you can find him watching movies, writing about them, and talking about them. He’s a booster of the Milwaukee Film Festival. Somehow he puts up with young whippersnappers Nat Almiral and Cody Lang on the Still Watching the Skies podcast.