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 . . .

The sinking feeling starts within five minutes of viewing, wherein the interesting setup is dumped in favour of a generic setup we've all seen dozens of times before. Strip away the sci-fi trappings and you're left with yet another police procedural 'spiced-up' by the presence of a 'unique' quirky partner. If you've seen Monk, Bones, Castle, The Mentalist, any of the modern Sherlock Holmes iterations, Continuum, Medium, Numbers, Psych, Lie to Me or even Diagnosis-goddamn-Murder then you've literally seen everything 'Minority Report' has to offer you.

Genuinely a shame, what an absolute waste of potential. The one highlight was seeing 'Fez' from 'That 70s Show' acting in something, possibly the worst part was that he was the best actor in the show.

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.

Compared to recent surge of sci-fi series, Minority Report is looking more refined with clearly better production. However, this doesn't have the same thrilling spirit from Tom Cruise's action thriller. The precognition concept has been reduced to typical paranormal investigation like that of Tru Calling or first season of Heroes. In fact, this may have had more buzz if it aired a decade ago.

If you're not familiar with the source, or understandably forget the story, the show opens with brief narrative about the movie. In near future authority used precog system by plugging three siblings into a machine, a mix between psychic and technology to determine crime before it happened. Unfortunately, Tom Cruise proved that it had flaws and the project was scratched.

One of the siblings, Dash (Stark Sands) now leads a normal witness protection life, but he still has the clairvoyance gift. With the help of a female police officer Lara Vega (Meagan Good) he helps solve crime in a rather timid sci-fi crime drama. The cast is leaning towards light comedy than thriller, which is perhaps intentionally made to suit the series.

The problem is the two leads don't mesh together well. Stark Sands has the quirky savant look, but he doesn't possess the on-screen presence for a capable lead. Flash and Mr. Robot have intelligent character that work for them, sadly that's not the case here. Meegan Good is attractive for the lead female, but she's an odd choice for tough female role. While she does look fit, it doesn't translate to serious femme fatale personality.

Its change to more humorous tone is different from the futuristic noir of the movie, it's not bad and probably better to accommodate TV series. It does rely too much on casual cop spectacle, yet doesn't really have the draw or chemistry such as Castle. Not to mention the use of psychic is getting old, the foreshadowing gimmick feels like a puzzle played too many times.

The presentation is impeccable though. It's obvious that the show invests a lot on making the world looks brightly inviting. The details for gadgetry, environment and investigation are splendid. This world definitely could work for foundation for TV series, although the narrative and characters are not as intriguing.