Minority Report

"Minority Report", the movie, was a visual delight with compelling action and a storyline that was multi-faceted, dealing with issues like guilt, free will, and technology. I am sorry to say that Fox's 'Minority Report", the television show, has some of the same technological trappings, but none of the charm or surprise of the Spielberg film.

The show opens eleven years after the abolishment of the Pre-crime Division. Lara Vega (Meagan Good) is a cop who meets a man named Dash (Stark Sands), who might be connected to the old program, with the ability to see glimpses of crimes before they happen. Does she dare try to use his illegal talents to solve or prevent crimes? The resulting drama appears to be a rather mundane police procedural.

In the pilot, it felt like the show jumped into the action too fast, with little explanation of the backstory. Then it moved the action along without much character development. That may be why there is little connection between the characters and, more importantly, why the they are not believable.

It was not long before my interest was waning. Taking a tale that started with a seminal Philip K. Dick story and turning it into just another cop show that considers nothing deeper than Lara's personal convictions, may be the greatest crime of all.

The show had such potential, but ruined with a few critical factors. I highly doubt it will be renewed, unless they make some serious changes. While the CGI effects are nice, the scripts are just okay, but most importantly - the show is POORLY cast. The main actress, Meagan Good, is difficult to stand, or to look at, for an entire hour. She suffers from severe "reșṯïng-bïṯch" face. That șour-půșs she touts around screams of perpetual disgust, or ingrain hatred, as if someone dumped a huge steaming pile-of-șhïṯ on her face right before each scene. Hardly the projected attitude you'd expect from a nobody actress clearly desperate to polish her plethora of talentless shows on her resume. Cast her in something more down her alley, like: Empire, Orange Is the New Black, or Scream Queens. If Minority Report is to continue, and be successful, replace her immediately . . .

Set 10 years after the events of the movie, the Precrime division has been abolished and the three precogs have been set free, but hidden away from society. Arthur, Agatha, and Dash still sense crimes before they are committed, but are not permitted to do anything about it. So Dash goes vigilante and tries to do it on his own.

Without Tom Cruise and the other big stars of the original film, this series looks like a one-season wonder, if that. It's wooden and devoid of interesting characters, which in a way is good because the actors they've chosen wouldn't be capable of portraying interesting characters. The series seems aimed at adolescent gamers who see a bunch of future-computer special effects and go Wow! and never ask for anything more. Like good writing or characterization.

Thumbs down.

If you loved the movie, you may be mildly amused with the pilot's special FX and sci-fi predictions, but you'll hate the horribly clichéd writing. This is cop procedural dreck, including such moldy oldies as the miss matched partners comprised of a "fish out of water" white guy (with all the answers)paired with streetwise black female cop. I could live with the procedural elements, if they captured some of the tension and suspense demonstrated in the open of the movie with Tom Cruise's character stopping the domestic murder/suicide. Unfortunately the writing is so trite and unimaginative you'll see every twist coming.

Everyone in the cast does an OK job with the limited parts their given except Megan Good, who is anything BUT good. Her performance is completely broad and two dimensional. Good delivers her character like she just stepped out of a sitcom. She shows no depth, comes across completely unbelievable as a detective and demonstrates such limited emotional range she comes across like corporate spokesmodel.

All in all Minority Report the Series tarnishes the memory of the movie, which, though entertaining, was no Spielberg classic to begin with. After the TV blandness of Terra Nova, The River, Smash, Falling Skies, The Whispers, Extant and Under the Dome maybe Mr. Spielberg should get out of television productions all together and focus on directing great movies.

This is a series in the "minority report" universe and it takes place 10 years after the events of the movie. For those who don't know, in a future society, 3 telepathic siblings who could predict a serious crime were used to imprison soon-to-be criminals in a ridiculous and impossible model of law enforcement. Well, as we see in this TV show, it didn't go well, the program terminated and the 3 siblings were left to continue their lives in secrecy.

This series follows mainly the life of Dash, the youngest brother of them three, who wants use his gift, again, to save victims. He partners unofficially with a Vega (Meagan Good) a homicide cop to help people and prevent crimes. Stark Sands is a good cast in the role of Dash.

The production as seen in the pilot has extremely high values for a TV show with very good visuals of the USA around 2065, and the whole atmosphere is realistic enough.

The script doesn't try much to be original but it is OK. Some comedic elements, the search for the missing brother, a little romance maybe and of course the couple which operates outside the boundaries of legality. WE've seen them before but the use of them here is appropriate.

Overall: Seems like a good show (based on the pilot). Entertaining with good visuals. If you overcome the impossible premise you will enjoy it.

.