A Wishy-Washy Future Is Nothing To Report Home About: Minority Report

The Good: Interesting concept, Interesting characters
The Bad: Direction, some acting, Thematically repetitive
The Basics: Steven Spielberg directs Tom Cruise in a middling film about a future where crimes are prevented by foreseeing them and stopping them before they happen.


Somewhere along the line, I began to associate Philip K. Dick with L. Ron Hubbard. Both science fiction writers seem to lend their work to big movies with lots of people running around in a world that looks nothing like what anyone would currently guess the future would look like now. As a simple example, in Minority Report (which was based on one of Dick's short stories), there is a sweeping, huge highway system throughout Washington, D.C. that would never have the funding to be built by today's Highway Departments.

Minority Report is set in the near future where crime in Washington, D.C. has been eliminated through the use of psychics and an advanced system wherein police arrest criminals before they commit murder. The head of the Precrime Division is John Anderton, a deeply scarred, drug addicted police officer who is very good at his job. He has effectively eliminated murder in Washington, D.C. and his system seems to be flawless. However, as Precrime prepares to go national, Anderton finds the office under investigation by a Justice Department investigator named Witwer. When the Precognitives (the psychics in charge of sensing the future murders) foresee Anderton committing a murder, Anderton starts to run, believing Witwer has set him up.

This little opus by Steven Spielberg is an unfortunate example of where special effects films go wrong today. In the pursuit of being bigger, faster and more, the directors somehow manage to forget "better." As a result, Minority Report is a chase film filled with quick shot images, fast camera moves and other jerky visual elements that keep the viewer off their toes and missing much of the rather large world being created to tell the story in. Thus, the first viewing of the film may inspire a headache or at the least bafflement as so much happens on the screen so fast it's near impossible to catch it all the first time. This is especially disappointing considering what an accomplished director Spielberg is; one might think he would like people to see the canvas he is painting on, but instead this piece substitutes creative endeavor with flash.

While the characters are interesting, some of the problem with the film comes down to the actors. Colin Farrell plays Witwer, the Justice Department investigator who is hunting Anderton. While Anderton tries to exonerate himself, Witwer gains access to all the same data. Farrell fails to portray Witwer in a menacing enough manner that the viewer actually believes he is the villain setting everything up. As a result, it's hard to buy any of Farrell's scenes, save his final one.

Similarly, Tom Cruise, who plays Anderton does nothing to differentiate this role from his Mission: Impossible persona. All he does is run, jump and defend himself. Cruise brings nothing to this role that is not in the script, not in the short story. He's become, in this context, something of a generic action hero and in Minority Report, the viewer wants something more.

In contrast, Anderton is an interesting character. He is fleshed out well with his backstory; he joined the Precrime program in its infancy when his son was kidnaped. He has some complicated relationships, with his estranged wife and the head of the Precrime Division, Burgess. The character's desperate attempts to prove himself make the film watchable.

Ultimately, the problem with Minority Report is that it wants to be a temporal thriller while being an engaging chase film. When certain fundamental principles are put into place, the film loses its edge. For example, the Precognitives predict that Anderton will commit a PREMEDITATED murder of a man he doesn't know. Given that fact and the supposed infallibility of the Precognitives, it is no surprise when the could-be climactic scene arrives. As well, the theme of predestination versus free will becomes rapidly and excessively beaten into the viewer.

In the end, that was what pushed me over into the "not recommend" camp; Minority Report is an average film that tries to be new, different and cutting edge and instead ends up beating the viewer over the head with some rather elementary concepts, making it visually difficult to watch and auditorily failing to stimulate enough to keep the viewer engaged. If you want fair science fiction where everything is handed to you, this is a fine film. I, however, know you can do better.

For other movies featuring Colin Farrell, check out my reviews of:
Horrible Bosses
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Daredevil

4.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not As Bad As I Remember It Being After The Apocalypse: Millennium Season 3!

The Good: Good acting, Interesting stories, Interesting character development
The Bad: Real stretch after the prior season's finale, Some fairly standard stories, No real surprises
The Basics: After the Apocalypse arrived at the end of the second season, Millennium returned for a third and - try as they might - is unable to get the magic back.


Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files and Millennium returned to his latter series after a year of working on The X-Files feature film and other projects to find his show had been almost completely co-opted. It was unrecognizable from where he had started it. The Millennium Group - which he had based on a group of noble, real-world profilers - had become an enemy cult that was bent upon bringing about the apocalypse. One may only imagine he was not terribly happy.

If you are a fan of Millennium and have not watched the second season finale, stop here, go watch the second season first. If you're not a fan of Millennium and don't mind reading something that is seminal to understanding the third season, but was surprising at the end of the second season, read on. Otherwise, please leave now. It's impossible to talk about the third season of Millennium without mentioning certain aspects of the second season finale.

That's all the warning I can give.

Following the viral outbreak that marked the beginning of the apocalypse at the end of season two, Frank Black returns to work for the FBI as a single father without his unique ability in play. He works quietly to raise Jordan, despite having to deal with the hostile in-laws and he searches for a way to make the Millennium Group pay for what was ultimately - apparently - a localized phenomenon with the viral outbreak.

Frank is paired with Emma Hollis, a competent and bright young woman who is pretty much fresh in the field. Frank and Hollis explore psychopaths and cases that are like generally violent The X-Files at the behest of a different Director in the FBI. And as the season goes on, Hollis and Frank learn to trust one another more while Frank's obsession with the Millennium Group fades, then returns even more forcefully.

And then the series pretty much ends. Fortunately - from a matter of perspective - this DVD boxed set includes the coda to Millennium from The X-Files, an episode called Millennium that tries to resolve the issues left open at the end of the series and instead is marginal and somewhat silly.

The fundamental problem, hands down, with the third season of Millennium is that it follows on the heels of season two. Season two's two-part finale is one of the greatest endings for a show. Ever. I mean that. Like in the history of television. Millennium's second season finale is one that I can watch over and over and over and over again and always be entertained, find something new, and end with a feeling of "WOW!" It's an ending that is almost impossible to come back from.

This is why the first episodes of season three of Millennium are forced, awkward. The producers, even Chris Carter, had no clear idea of how to come back from that finale and the best they can do is to work around it and try to figure out what the Millennium Group is now. As much as this might be heresy to fans of Millennium, I can only recommend the third season of Millennium in good faith to people who absolutely loved the first season of the show and want more of the same. Here's what you do. Watch the first season and if you love what you see and don't want the format of the show to shift radically, just buy the third season. It's a surprisingly easy transition given where Kathrine ends up at the end of season one.

But, it doesn't. Season three follows season two (reviewed here!) and it's a real tough sell on that count. The first episodes are clunky and then the show falls into stories that are more episodic than serialized. And when Peter Watts shows up - and he does - it's very hard to tell how his character relates to the character from the prior seasons. Watts has lost all revelation and doubt from the second season finale and it takes the whole season before Frank can get him even to question again.

That's not to say this is not wonderful television. It has moments that truly are. One of my favorite episodes of the series, "Omerta" is in this season. It was robbed; it should have won awards for musical direction, but did not. Similarly, I enjoyed "The Sound Of Snow" in this season and fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer are bound to enjoy James Marsters' appearance in "Collateral Damage." And I tend to enjoy the Lucy Butler stories and this season has two (or three, wink wink) of them.

It also has some duds, like "Seven And One" which just seemed too obvious to be real. And I know a lot of KISS fans enjoyed ". . . Thirteen Years Later," but I found it to be lacking. It tried to be a second season episode and failed. It wasn't quite as clever as some of those pieces (like "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me") and it just didn't work the way it could have with better writing.

What is interesting is the character arc of Emma Hollis. Because Hollis is not tied to the previous works, her whole arc is interesting and natural. She is believable and compelling. She makes a good foil for Frank and perhaps the only real good part of the series finale is where she is left and it works.

Hollis is played quite ably by Klea Scott who is wonderful in the role. She easily projects an intelligence and innocence with her eyes and as the series goes on, she is able to flex some spine in ways that she is not able to early in the season. Scott brings a wonderful humanity to the cases that Megan Gallagher was never able to do because she was not inside Frank's professional world. Scott is articulate and charming and she carries every scene she's on her own in the series without her costar.

Lance Henriksen is stuck in a tough place, though he rides out the series quite well. With his hair back (most of the season) to a darker shade, he is put in the awkward position of redefining his character. He lives up to the challenge as best he can, making Frank more of a straight-out profiler as opposed to using an almost supernatural ability. Henriksen is appropriately intense throughout the season and the few moments he's able to soften (like when his character is with his daughter) he does so successfully.

Ultimately, though, this is one of those cases of average television falling on the heals of truly great television. I own it, as a fan of Millennium and I henpeck the episodes from time to time, but it's a rare thing for me to sit down and watch Millennium - The Complete Third Season all the way through the way I do with seasons one and two. It just had too high a hurdle to jump after such an amazing run.

For other works where the third season was the show's last, please check out my reviews of:
Star Trek - The Third Season
Veronica Mars - Season 3
Arrested Development - Season 3

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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An Unfortunately Erratic Series, Millennium The Complete Series Is Shaky.

The Good: Genuinely horrific moments, Excellent acting, Great characters, Space-saving boxed set.
The Bad: It's all over after the second season finale . . .
The Basics: Chris Carter's most successful (to date) non-The X-Files project is Millennium, a series that is erratic with real hints of greatness that didn't quit while it was ahead.


There are few television series' that I truly consider as examples of a poor overall work where there is something to love. But with Millennium, Chris Carter's project while The X-Files (reviewed here!) was at its peak, it is hard to discuss the series with love and feel like one is being truthful. With Millennium The Complete Series, this becomes very evident. The show had three seasons, but the first is radically different from the second and the third struggled to reinvent itself and, coming on the heels of a powerful season finale, failed horribly. The result is a creative, but terribly erratic series which does not hold together very well at all.

Millennium is a forensic crime drama that precedes the C.S.I. craze. The boxed set of Millennium The Complete Series features the same discs from:
Millennium Season One
Millennium Season Two
Millennium Season Three without any additional bonus features or discs, but in a slimmer DVD case. Millennium focuses on Frank Black and is a deep, very dark psychological horror series that has a former F.B.I. Agent working for a group of consultants as the year 2000 approaches.

Season one finds Frank Black, having recovered from a mental breakdown as a result of his work, moving to Seattle with his wife and daughter. There, working as a consultant for the mysterious Millennium Group, he finds himself getting more and more back into the life he thought he left behind as he chases down serial killers and other villains against society. Frank Black is no ordinary investigator, though. He possesses a freakish talent to understand the mind of evildoers so well that he can see what they see. He catches glimpses into the minds of those who do evil and is thus able to track them down with a high degree of success. Over the course of the first season, Frank is put in situations where he must confront serial killers, mind-controlling cults, bombers, molesters, and zealots. Frank's professional life is balanced by his family life. After a day of encountering evil, he returns to his bright yellow house to the woman he loves and the daughter who is growing up in the world Frank is desperate to make for her.

In the second season, Frank and his wife Katherine are estranged as a result of the extreme lengths Frank went to to save Katherine's life at the climax of the prior season. On his own and with Peter Watts, Frank struggles to understand serial killers, torture artists and actual devils and angels who cross his path while attempting to reconcile with his wife and see his daughter.

And the third season has Frank reuniting with the F.B.I. when it appears the Millennium Group is actually a sinister organization.

The problem here is that the seasons do not truly relate to one another. Season one has the Millennium Group working to save humanity and treasuring Frank's gifts while ridding the Seattle area of all sorts of darkness. Season two has quirky stories that exposes the supernatural and insinuates the Millennium Group is not all it initially seemed. And the final season pairs Frank Black with a rookie investigating surprisingly mundane cases.

Like all great dramas, the stories revolve around characters and "Millennium" is no exception. The principles for the first year (though only Lance Henriksen and Megan Gallagher are credited every episode) are:

Frank Black - This is mostly his story. Frank tries desperately to keep evil at bay by catching the worst elements of society. But his gift comes with a soul crushing price as he comes to realize that the world is too big to be saved by one man,

Katherine Black - Is a social worker who loves and supports Frank and keeps him grounded. She is a pragmatist, but as Frank's association with the Millennium Group progresses, she begins to feel more and more distance from him and more fear for what he is doing,

Bob Bletcher - the Chief of Detectives in Seattle and an old friend of Frank's, he helps Frank whenever possible and acts as a friend to both Frank and Katherine. Unsure the depth of Frank's ability or ability to stay grounded, Bletcher lives in the real world, but accepts Frank's help when the case is unspeakably bad,

Peter Watts - Frank's coworker at the Millennium Group. A forensic expert, Peter represents the Group which is otherwise nebulous. He is efficient and calculating,

and Jordan Black - the daughter of Frank and Katherine, she is almost completely innocent. Her innocence is challenged when Katherine begins to suspect that she may share in Frank's abilities, making her a target of evil.

Millennium is a show where pretty much anything can happen. Unlike some shows that will take the viewer to the edge of terror and then everything turns out all right, Millennium is a show grounded in some measure of the worst aspects of reality. Good people suffer, evil occasionally gets away, relationships get strained. It has a gritty feel to it that makes it quite compelling.

The actors must get some serious credit. Megan Gallagher is wonderful as Katherine Black. She lends a realism to the supernatural show by embodying a strong, intelligent woman who expresses so much through her body language. She was perfectly cast as a foil to Lance Henriksen. Similarly, Terry O'Quinn establishes Peter Watts as an intriguing character. O'Quinn has a gravitas to him that lends well to a character like Watts who clearly has more knowledge than we ever see in this season. O'Quinn is balanced well by Bill Smitrovich, who plays Bletcher. Smitrovich's everyman quality works perfectly to portray a less guarded associate of Franks. Smitrovich is likable and his ability to balance an air of integrity with good natured smiles makes him a pleasure to watch.

Lance Henriksen is amazing as Frank Black. First of all, it is refreshing to see someone who looks more like a real person than most anyone else on television. Henriksen does not possess a Hollywood face or bearing. Instead, he and his gravely voice make Frank into a believable entity. Henriksen plays confused, confident, and stricken without ever leaving the conflicted character of Frank Black. He is a pleasure to watch and a force of his own on screen.

But the entire series is erratic and viewers might do better with the first and second season without the third to weigh it down. Even though the first and second are radically different, they are both good. The third is deadweight on a creative series.

For other shows that originally aired on FOX, please check out my reviews of:
Family Guy Presents: It’s A Trap!
Glee - Season Two, Volume One
Fringe - Season Two
Arrested Development
Wonderfalls
VR.5
The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

5/10

For other television series reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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