History Main / MinorityReport

* ''VideoGame/MinorityReportEverybodyRuns'', the video game loosely based on the movie

* ''Series/MinorityReport'', the [[RecycledTheSeries sequel series]] to the movie.

* ''The Minority Report'', the 1956 science fiction short story by Creator/PhilipKDick.

[[redirect:Film/MinorityReport]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minority_report_interface1_1250.png]]

->'''Dr. Iris Hineman''': ''Most of the time, all three precognatives will see things the same way but'' once ''in a while one of them will see things differently than the others.''\\
'''John Anderton''': ''Jesus Christ, why didn't I know about this?''\\
'''Dr. Hineman''': ''Because these "minority reports" are destroyed the instant they occur.''

''Minority Report'' is a 2002 science fiction film by StevenSpielberg, loosely based on the [=~Philip K. Dick~=] story "The Minority Report". It takes place in WashingtonDC and Virginia in the year 2054, and centers around a new and experimental branch of the police, the "Precrime division," which tracks murders about to happen with the aid of three "precognitive" psychics who can see the future in limited flashes.

Of course, things start to get tricky when one of the Precrime officers, John Anderton (TomCruise) gets flagged by the precogs as a future murderer. Now, he is forced to evade his own fellow officers as he tries to figure out why he would want to murder a man he's never even heard of yet...

One of both Spielberg and Cruise's most successful films, not only raking in more than three times its hundred-million-dollar budget worldwide, but scoring nearly universal acclaim from critics with a 92% on RottenTomatoes. RogerEbert named it the best film of 2002.
----
!! This movie contains examples of:
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the short story, Anderton was fat, bald, and old. Additionally, the precogs looked rather more unearthly.
* AdaptationExpansion
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: The event that kicks the plot off -- Anderton's future murder -- is explained as a paradox in the book. Adapted to film, there's no explanation for the source ([[spoiler:especially considering the BigBad engineered it]]) of the vision, which comes off as a complete tangent to the otherwise consistent nature of Precrime.
* AdultFear: Anderton losing his son in the few seconds he looks away...
** [[spoiler:Anne Lively's daughter was more or less taken from her by the government and horribly experimented on. She is unable to save her, and is killed for her efforts.]]
* AndIMustScream: Daily life for the precogs: Watching murders again and again while being drugged. When Agatha finally gets a chance to scream she promptly does so.
* ArcWords: "Can you see?"
** Related, there are quite a few bits of dialog mentioning "eyes" in some context.
* AutomatedAutomobiles
* [[spoiler:BabiesEverAfter]]
* BackAlleyDoctor: The dude Anderton goes to for an [[EyeScream eyeball transplant]], brilliantly and nauseatingly rendered by Peter Stormare.
* BatmanColdOpen: Anderton and the Precrime Division arrest a man who was about to kill his wife and her lover. Also uses Danny Witwer as the AudienceSurrogate during the scene to ask how everything works, getting the audience familiar with the process.
* BerserkButton: "Don't you ''EVER SAY HIS NAME''! [[spoiler:You used the memory of my dead son to set me up! It was the one thing you knew that would drive me to murder!"]]
* BigBrotherIsWatching
* BigNo: Agatha, [[spoiler: when Crow got killed anyway despite Anderton not actually doing it quite as predicted.]]
* BilingualBonus: Let's just say the BackAlleyDoctor is NOT very kind to his partner, who in turn is really creepy in a pervy way. Of course, you don't need to be fluent in Swedish to pick up on that.
* BizarreBabyBoom: The precogs are the children of [[{{Scanners}} "Neuroin" (New hEROIN) addicts]].
* BlackHelicopter: The jump jets used by the police.
* BlatantLies: The Precrime tour guide has a, shall we say, rather idealized story of Precog life to tell the kiddies.
* BlindMistake
* BlindWithoutEm: Used to creepy effect.
* BloodyBiometric: Retinal scanners are everywhere. Solution: eyeball transplant.
* BulletHolesAndRevelations: The death of [[spoiler:Burgess]].
* CasualDangerDialogue: Anderton and Fletcher, when the Pre Cops have cornered him in an alleyway, take a moment to discuss Fletcher's rough landing due to a bad knee.
* [=~Chekhov's Armoury~=]: When escaping through the mall, short-range precognition causes this.
* [=~Chekhov's Skill~=]: Anderton holding his breath.
** Anderton was always a skilled runner.
* ConveyorBeltODoom: The fight in the car factory.
* DestinationDefenestration: Subverted. Anderton tackles a man who is about to murder his wife, sending both of them flying at the bedroom window. They only make it partway through the window.
** Played straight later with the death of Leo Crow.
* DirtyMindReading: Rufus apologizes for his dirty thoughts when he realizes that Agatha is a precog.
** Dirty thoughts involving [[KissingCousins his ''cousin'']]
* DownerEnding: Depending on [[EpilepticTrees your interpretation]].
** May also be a BittersweetEnding as [[spoiler:Precrime gets shut down, but the precogs are free, and Anderton and his wife get back together.]]
* [=~Everything Is An iPod In The Future~=]
* ExtremeGraphicalRepresentation: The Precrime computers. Just don't pick your nose.
* EyelessFace: The dealer from whom Anderton buys his drugs, possibly sold them to a BackAlleyDoctor.
* EyeScream: See BloodyBiometric and BackAlleyDoctor, above.
** The movie in general has an eye theme going on. You can just imagine.
* FacialRecognitionSoftware: Used realistically here.
* FalseGunshot: The one covered in ConveyorBeltODoom.
* FastRoping
* FridgeBrilliance: Why did Anderton's ball come out brown, the sign of a premeditated murder? As he stated, he didn't even know the guy! Because [[spoiler:''he wasn't the one who planned it''.]]
** Alternatively, it come out brown because it was premeditated, just not in the traditional. He may not have known the guy, but [[spoiler:he probably thought about what he'd do to the person who took his son for a LONG time.]]
** Further alternatively, it came out brown because upon seeing the precog's vision of the murder, [[StableTimeLoop he was aware that it would happen ahead of time]]. Any decision to go through with it would therefore have been influenced by that plan, resulting in premeditation.
* FridgeLogic: see [[Headscratchers/MinorityReport Headscratchers]].
* FunctionalAddict: Anderton is addicted to "Whiff", though this doesn't seem to hinder him in his job or in his ongoing attempt to avoid arrest and clear his name. Mostly he just uses it as a coping mechanism for his depression and severe stress.
* FuturisticSuperhighway: Highways are substantially different from those in the present day, allowing some cars to drive themselves, let law enforcement easily intercept cars harboring suspected criminals by changing the vehicle's travel route and destination, and (most notable of all) drive up vertical roads.
* GardenOfEvil: Iris Hineman's greenhouse.
* GunStruggle
* [=~Have You Told Anyone Else?~=]: And for a limited time, this trope comes with an IdiotBall, free of charge!
** [[YourMileageMayVary Of course]], the character in question didn't seem to [[CreekMoment connect the dots]] until he was already in the room [[OhCrap alone with the villain]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: During the chase at the mall Agatha insisted they stay out in the open while a SWAT team was about to survey the entire plaza. [[spoiler: A large collection of balloons hides them from the SWAT vantage point and they were able to sneak away, virtually in plain sight.]]
* HolographicTerminal: The Precrime division gets the coolest computers EVER.
* HumanPopsicle: Implied fate of future murderers.
* ImportantHaircut
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Or drowning, in this case.
* InNameOnly: The short story has the ''exact opposite'' [[AnAesop message]], with Anderton [[spoiler:willingly going away (to a much less {{dystopia}}n sentence) to preserve an otherwise perfect system - the inaccurate precog reports, for paradox-related reasons, could only ever have happened to him.]]
* InspectorZenigata: Witver. He's obsessed with finding the flaw in Precrime, but drug abuse is a legit reason for busting Anderton and [[spoiler:he doesn't blame Anderton]] for being framed for Crow's murder when he sees the forged evidence.
* InstantOracleJustAddWater
* IronicNurseryTune: The BackAlleyDoctor's nurse sings the Swedish nursery song ''Små grodorna'' ("Small frogs") with the original ''Ej öron, ej öron, ej svansar hava de'' ("no ears, no ears, no tails they have") replaced by ''Ej ögon, ej ögon'' ("no eyes they have").
* JetPack: Standard police issue, no less.
* KillHimAlready: Best subversion ever.
* LatexPerfection: Subverted. The method used looks extremely painful.
* LexLuthorSecurity: [[spoiler:Those eyeballs]] sure came in handy afterward.
* LifeImitatesArt: The transparent data tiles used by Precrime are being developed in real life.
** Interestingly, those transparent data tiles are actually Iomega Clik/[=PocketZip=] disks with the metal bits (and logos) replaced with the transparent material, making this life imitating art imitating ProductPlacement.
** Also, the multitouch technologies used by gadgets such as the [=iPhone=] have some similarity with the Pre-Crime interface.
** With the [=iPad=] this is even closer. ''Especially'' to the smaller tablet-sized systems the Precrime officers use.
* LotusEaterMachine: The containment cells are said to be this.
* MagicFloppyDisk: A very retro accessory on the otherwise very futuristic computers.
* MercyLead: Offered to Anderton by the precogs' caretaker.
* {{Nakama}}: Anderton's team fills this role, obviously caring for him. The blond guy looks almost in tears when they come to arrest him. In the ensuing ChaseScene, Anderton works ''very'' hard not to harm them, and largely succeeds.
* OhCrap: When the precogs predict Leo Crowe's murder by Anderton, their caretaker offers him a MercyLead. On the way out, Anderton gets stuck in an elevator with Danny Witwer, the InternalAffairs agent. Witwer confronts Anderton about his [[FantasticDrug neuroin]] addiction, and Anderton in turn accuses Witwer of framing him and pulls a gun on him.
-->'''Witwer''': Come on, John, I know you're not going to kill me. I don't hear a [[RedAlert red ball]].
** Naturally, this is the moment the MercyLead expires, and the "imminent murder" alarm goes off. Witwer reacts [[OhCrap appropriately]].
** Anderton gets a very brief one [[spoiler: when he hears that he is also charged with Danny Witwer's death right when he is haloed.]]
* OneSceneWonder: Lots of them. The movie's got an incredibly solid supporting cast.
* OrgyOfEvidence: The TropeNamer.
* PackedHero: Played for drama as Anderton navigates a conveyor belt, then for sheer [[RuleOfCool cool]] as he drives off in the completed car.
* ParanoiaFuel: In-universe. The surgeon [[SarcasmMode thanks]] Anderton for the [[PrisonRape enlightenment]] he had in prison while prepping him for surgery. Turns out that prison did improve him, because he performs the surgery flawlessly.
* PeopleJars: The containment facilities, and to a lesser extent the pool containing the precogs.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: Precrime, quite literally.
* PrecisionFStrike: When Anderton confronts the man who apparently [[spoiler:kidnapped his son.]]
* ProductPlacement: In the future we will shop at the Gap, eat Burger King, drink Guinness, and pay for it with American Express. And the best part is, none of their logos have changed in the last 50 years. When Anderton looks at his watch, you can see that it is a Bvlgari. However, through most of the film, he's wearing a different watch altogether and we don't notice it because we don't see the logo.
** Though some of it is to show how ads are everywhere in this world without privacy.
** Also: the ads know your name, your buying history, your basic medical vital stats (at the moment you walk past) like pulse and respiration rate, and...?
** Spielberg did this on purpose to show exactly how invasive it ''could'' get. It may or may not have had the same effect with made-up products, but then the studio would've had to pay someone to make up products. This way they get verisimilitude ''and'' sponsorship money.
* PsychicPowers: Specifically, precognition.
* PublicDomainSoundtrack
* ReadingYourRights: Very powerfully invoked here, since Anderton was wrestling for a very long time over whether or not he was going to shoot the man he suspected of [[spoiler:kidnapping his son. The cop side won.]]
* [[RealIsBrown Real is Kind Of Blue]]: Used to invoke a futuristic feel (that's why the only scene that doesn't use it is a {{flashback}}).
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Lamar Burgess seems to act this way towards Anderton.
* SayingTooMuch: [[spoiler:Lamar's]] crucial error, which Lara notices: "I never said she drowned."
* ScareChord: Subverted. Eyeballs are placed on an organ's keys, justifying the chord.
* ScienceFiction: One of the better, harder mainstream examples this decade.
* [=~Schrodinger's Butterfly~=]
* ScrewDestiny
* [[spoiler: SecretProjectRefugeeFamily: The three precogs at the end.]]
* {{Seers}}: The precogs.
* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Exemplified.
* SenselessPhagia: The ''other'' sandwich[=/=]milk combo.
* ShutUpHannibal: See BerserkButton.
* SoftGlass, {{Sheet of Glass}}, DramaticShattering, etc: Considering this future has things like precognition, holographic storage, an automated maglev transport system and other technologically advanced things, they apparently can't make glass that doesn't shatter with the slightest impact.
** In the arrest of Howard Marks, the precrime cops crash through a skylight, sending shards of glass all over the room, especially all over the wife and lover who were directly underneath. Then, Anderton throws Marks onto the bed, ''which is covered in shattered glass''. If this were real life, Marks should have been bloodied up a little bit. Unless all glass in the future shatters without sharp bits.
* SpaceBrasilia: Averted.
* SpitTake: The ''other'' sandwich/milk combo in the fridge.
* SpottingTheThread: [[spoiler: The key to an objective observation of the minority report of the death of Agatha's mother was that with the supposed duplicate murder the water was rippling in a different direction, thereby occured at a different time of day.]]
* SuicideByCop: Attempted, averted, succeeded.
* SuperWindowJump
* TechMarchesOn: With the advent of the Kinect, it seems kinda silly that people need to wear that glove to use the computer in the Precrime office, although it could be argued it is used to prevent interference from other people.
** Justified in that real-life gestural systems require the use of a glove in order to resolve more detailed gestures more quickly than devices like the Kinect.
* TechnologyPorn
* TheBigBoard
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The video game version has a different-looking, blond Anderton, as TomCruise's likeness couldn't be licensed.
** The fact that not even [[TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] could bring himself to review the game when offered truly speaks volumes.
* ThemeNaming: the Precogs are named after mystery writers ({{Agatha|Christie}}, {{Arthur|ConanDoyle}} and {{Dashiell|Hammett}}).
* ThrowItIn: The part during the mall chase where Agatha grabs a woman and tells her "He knows. Don't go home." was not in the script. Spielberg added it on the set.
* ToastedBuns: The jetpack cops. Possibly justified, as the [[FutureClothes suits they wear]] may be fire resistant.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: This movie uses it extensively. Most scenes have it, and the intensity varies from a light dusting to complete submersion - it is a classic modern example of the trope.
* UnusualUserInterface
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:Burgess]] tries to get Anderton to see things his way on how many people they've saved thanks to Precrime, and how many people they could have saved with it, including [[BerserkButton his son]].
* VideoPhone: They're even installed in future cars, and since cars can drive themselves, people in using the video phone in the car can commit themselves entirely to the phone call and not have to pay attention to the road.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: Burgess]]
* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Anderton is apparently forgiven for all the other crimes he committed in attempting to prove he didn't murder anyone. To his credit, when he's fighting off the Precops, he goes out of his way not to harm any of them, going so far as to double check that one had a good grip on a fire escape after he swiped his jetpack and before letting go of him. And the authorities can't exactly prosecute him without describing ''exactly how much of a fool he made them look''.
** Not to mention [[spoiler:revealing Burgess' murder of Agatha's mother]].
* [=~You Can't Fight Fate~=]: Averted. Precog Agatha tells Anderton, "You always have a choice." [[spoiler: Then the guy grabs the gun and dies anyway.]]
** Also consider that the entire concept of Precrime is about succeeding at fighting fate. The Precogs are ''always wrong'' because the murders are prevented.
----
<<|{{Film}}|>>

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Burgess

* ToastedBuns: The jetpack cops.

* WrongfulAccusationInsurance: Anderton is apparently forgiven for all the other crimes he committed in attempting to prove he didn't murder anyone. To his credit, when he's fighting off the Precops, he goes out of his way not to harm any of them, going so far as to double check that one had a good grip on a fire escape before swiping his jetpack. And the authorities can't exactly prosecute him without describing ''exactly how much of a fool he made them look''.

* BehindTheBlack: Anderton spends a lot of time examining Crow's apartment before he notices the bed in the middle of the room is covered in photographs.
** He doesn't pay attention to them because they appear to be ordinary snapshots. It's only when one particular photo catches his eye...

* BerserkButton: "Don't you ''EVER SAY HIS NAME''! [[spoiler:You used the death of my son to get me to kill! You knew it was the one thing that would drive me to murder!"]]