Minority Report (2002) Story Analysis

My personal pointer and thoughts throughout the movie.

The theme?
Case no 1
How did they solve the case?

introducing how this world impacted by the theme (pre-crime program)

John Anderton
The flaw of the Main Character (insomnia, drug addict)
drives of the main character (son and wife) “dead?”

potential problem/trigger? the new supervisor of the program
Danny Witwer

A potential flaw in the program

one case is suspicious with unusual behavior one of the precogs.
some data went missing

the love for the deceased son.
the tragedy that maybe can be prevented by this program
is the drive for John to get the PreCrime program goes national
Is he being manipulated?
Is the tragedy is forged?

The 2nd case starts
John is the killer- precogs vision.

on the run
get info on what is the precogs, the origin of the system, the truth
plan to prove his innocence and the truth of precrime
get his eye replaced

Get Agatha
checking his minority report (got nothing)
Agatha wants him to see who kills Anne lively.

Runaway from the pre-crime team

go to met Jon crow (the one he murdered in the vision)
Jon Crow forced and kill himself.
all the scene is a setup

Danny finds it suspicious, tells Lamar what he finds.
Lamar kills him.
Lamar is definitely the villain.

Anderton’s wife calls Lamar, tell Lamar that Anderton is not a killer.
Lamar asks to keep Anderton in her house.

Does Agatha tell Anderton about an alternate reality? about her mother?

Anderton gets ambushed and caught by the pre-crime team.

His wife talks with Lamar. She suspects Lamar is behind this.
She frees Anderton from slumber.

Anderton reveals Lamar’s secret in his press conference.

3rd case coming in
PreCogs predict Lamar kills Anderton.

In reality, Lamar chooses to kill himself.

PreCrime program abandoned.
All prisoners released.
Anderton’s wife is pregnant. Anderton expecting his second child
Three precogs live peacefully far away from civilization/humans.

Logline

Anderton’s journey as a Pre-Crime officer (a program to prevent and catch criminality before it happens) to reveal the truth behind the Pre-Crime, and his son’s death.

Basic Story Map

PROTAGONIST:

John Anderton, 30’s, a Pre-Crime officer.

CHARACTERIZATION/MAIN MISBEHAVIOR:

justice, curiosity, hard to let go of the past.

EXTERNAL GOAL:

To create a world without criminal so noone will ever experience losing someone from a criminal ever again.

INTERNAL GOAL:

Redemption, finding the truth.

MAIN DRAMATIC CONFLICT:

Manipulation, criminality, betrayal, ambition.

THEME:

Special Ops, Criminal, Organization.

CENTRAL DRAMATIC QUESTION:

Will Anderton manage to find the truth, uphold justice, and letting go of the past?

ENDING:

Justice served, Anderton’s second chance for a better life, Precogs lives peacefully.

ARC:

Anderton goes from an Pre-Crime officer with a life that is haunted by the past to upholding justice, reunite with his wife and living a better life.

Minority Report Beat Sheet (story structure)

Opening Image

Kissing, adultery and murder flashing scene.

Set up

Pre-Crime case breakdown. How the system works? Anderton’s skill showcase.

Theme Stated

Crime is everywhere. How to solve them?

Catalyst

Danny Witwer arrivals. Doubting Pre-Crime program, checking for flaws.

Debate

Cautious around Witwer, shows him around, and convinces him Pre-Crime is perfect.

Break into two

Agatha, one of the precogs, sudden unusual behaviour. Shows a glimpse of past case (her mom’s case) to Anderton.

B story

Visit the Halo Prison. Checks on the Agatha’s mom’s case.

Fun and Games

Anderton is the criminal in the next case. He escapes from the building and on the run.

Midpoint

He visits Pre-Crime’s first inventor.

Bad guys close in

Anderton finds out the truth about the “Minority Report” in the Pre-Crime system. Changes his eyeballs to avoid capture. Infiltrates Pre-Crime building and kidnaps Agatha.

All is lost

Anderton and Agatha visit Riley (underground technician)

Dark Night of the soul

Riley extracts the “Minority Report” of the Agatha’s mom’s case.

Break into three

Anderton and Agatha on the run from Pre-Crime team.

Finale

Anderton confronts his case and find out all of his case is a setup. Witwer also finds out and murdered by Lamar (Pre-Crime Head/Owner). Anderton and Agatha ambushed and captured in Anderton’s wife’s house. Anderton’s wife finds out the truth,and frees Anderton from prison. Anderton reveals Lamar’s secret in public and Lamar kills himself.

Final image

Pre-Crime program abandoned. All prisoner released. Anderton’s wife pregnant. Anderton expecting his second child. Three precogs lives peacefully far away from civilization/humans.

Personal Comments and Notes

What’s good?

• Fresh Concept, nice thought on the system of pre-crime
• Anderton feels like a good, reliable character that everybody can rely on. And, well respected by peers. A good main character always makes us wanna follow the story.
• Even though the nature of the film is complex about futuristic stuff that usually viewers need time to understand. The amount of futuristic elements inside the movie feels balance.
• When Anderton is on the run, the respect that he gets from the team is great. That amplifies the respect of the viewer to Anderton as well. And the eye changing scene, even though I personally hate the disturbing moment when they change the eye, The scene is very good and the struggle afterward also well-executed (hiding his heat in ice bathtub, exhale heat bubble that made his position known by the spiders). Thumbs up to the creators!
• The revealing of the truth of the system is perfect. The thought that put behind it is fantastic. Complex but feels natural for the movie. For me, this true explanation of the system is the best in this movie. I don’t feel any holes in the concept when watching it.
• The sunglass person in the second (Anderton kills) case is creative! Love that touch in the movie.
• The redemption moment of the movie is great! The classic timing with a lot of spectators and hurts the villain (when and where) it hurts the villain most is well executed.
• The finale and conclusion for all the important characters are also well done. It feels great to see them all rewarded in the end.

Improvement from my point of view

• Anderton's wife's reason to left Anderton is not strong or not convincing enough on the screen. It feels like she surrenders easily and doesn’t love Anderton deeply. If she needs to be separated by Anderton for the plot, the scene of them fighting or some argument that causes the breakup should be shown more, and earlier.
• Danny Witwer’s character feels impulsive and not smart enough to be the main threat. So, it doesn’t generate enough tension and respect for the viewer that he could be the game-changer in the scene. The impact for the viewer is when he is dead or when he threatens the takeover, it doesn’t generate enough emotion to be remembered/loved by the viewer. Is it intentional? to make the other character looks smarter?
  Personally, I think he is an important character in the movie. I would like to take him to “think” more before taking action. Rather than impulsive, feels unkind. Therefore, it will make him more of a threat when chasing Anderton. And, make Anderton feels much stronger too, managed to escape from him. And the important scene when Witwer died, he could make some counter preparation. At least some suspicion and triggering some fights before going down. And will make him be respected more by the viewer and make Lamar feels much stronger to come up top against such a good opponent. In conclusion, the better Witwer is, the better the impact on every moves that he did in the movie.
• Agatha’s reaction to her caught Anderton and tell him about Anna Lively’s case and triggers the main conflict. The reason and trigger of the reaction don’t feel strong and natural enough. Agatha’s rejection of the sleep/calming drug to trigger the reaction will feel more natural. It will also make Agatha’s desire, to tell the truth behind the system feels much stronger. And the redemption that these 3 precogs deserve a better life in the ending feels much better. This also gives more reason for Anderton to kidnap/save her in the later stages of the story.
• The plant scene when Anderton meets the precogs creator. It feels magical, I feel kicked out from the theme at the scene that mainly focused on sci-fi feeling, robotic, clean, futuristic. A little change like the plant’s not moving quickly and have feeling/thinking (can attack you) should fix the problem.
• The infiltration scene to get Agatha. Feels so easy and without hassle. Maybe, 2–3 fighting/intense stealth scene will imprint the infiltration scene to the viewer’s head much more.

Anyways, the creator must have their own reason to make the choices that I don’t know. And I respect that. Thank you for creating this movie to entertain us all. Lastly, thank you for reading. Have a nice day and see you in the next post.