If I had to describe FOX’s adaptation of Minority Report in one word, so far, it would be... awkward. The main issue I have is the huge dissonance between what I expected this show to be and what it actually was. I should say though that I have no prior experience with the movie or story, so I came into this completely clueless but unbiased.
The pilot picks up ten years after the Precrime program ended. Three children, Dash (Stark Sands), Arthur (Nick Zano), and Agatha (Laura Regan), spent their childhood solving murders for the city before they even happened due to their abilities to see the future. However their abilities only fully work when they are hooked up to each other, working together. When the program ended they were put out into the real world but it’s imperative that no one knows they were the children from Precrime. Dash seems to be pretty obvious about it and after witnessing him having one of his visions, Detective Vega (Meagan Good) immediately knows who he is. The rest of the episode focuses on Vega and Dash working together to thwart an attack on a political rally before dozens of citizens die.
One of the biggest issues I had with Minority Report was it’s tone. It honestly felt very weird to me. I’m going to use one of my all-time favorite shows, Fringe, as a comparison and it’s definitely not fair but I’m doing it anyways. Fringe had a near-perfect tone. It was dark, creepy, exciting, action-packed and above all, very sci-fi. It was sci-fi at it’s core. Minority Report feels much more superficially sci-fi. It’s trying to appear sci-fi with it’s fancy effects and CGI setting, but it doesn’t feel sci-fi enough. The tone is much too light and bright for the content. It tried to be too funny in too many places (I never thought I’d hear an Iggy Azalea name drop on this show - it was a weird, almost cringe, choice of artist/song). It just felt very all over the place. When I came into this show, I was expecting something, obviously not the same as Fringe, but much more similar to Fringe’s tone and I think it would fare better with more of a sci-fi/action feel along the lines of Fringe combined with an action movie. I felt like there were moments that were really engaging, where the tone felt right. I loved the scene in the intro where we first saw the children experience a murder vision, and I also enjoyed the scene in the diner with Dash’s seizure-like vision. These moments were exciting, disturbing, and interesting to watch. The rest of the episode felt like it was going through the motions and honestly, it’s episode one - there’s no time for that.
The biggest way in which I felt it was going through the motions, was with the actor’s performances. I’m trying to cut them some slack because it is the first episode and over time I’m sure they’ll settle in to their roles more, but honestly, to me, they were very lacking. It felt like they were just saying their lines but they weren’t really delivering them the way they needed to. I will say Meagan Good is doing much better than Stark Sands. He needs to up his game. But, on second thought, I think that he might just be missing some subtleties. Maybe his wooden, awkward delivery is just the way that he’s choosing to play the character, but it’s kind of off-putting because he doesn’t play it weird enough, so I was confused if it was on purpose or just mediocre acting. The one performance I was unexpectedly happy with was Nick Zano as Arthur. I think this role is a much better fit for him than what he’s been doing recently. I really hope that he’ll be playing a bigger part in future episodes and according to the promo, it looks like that’s the case. Overall, I just feel that the cast is lacking chemistry. For example, Vega and her coworker/boss/lieutenant guy seem like they’re supposed to have a little something (because they blatantly told us) but there’s just nothing there. Same with Vega and Dash. I just want to feel something from these characters but they aren’t quite there yet.
I want to end with some positives, because, although it may seem like I didn’t enjoy Minority Report at all, I actually didn’t think it was that bad for a pilot. It has some pretty big issues but nothing that can’t be fixed as the show settles in and finds its feet. I thought that the effects were very good and they did a great job of creating an interesting world that’s fun to watch. I actually really liked the whole diner scene, it was the only one where I saw a flicker of the potential chemistry that Vega and Dash could have. That scene actually had some life to it as opposed to just going through the motions. As much as I said that I want a much darker tone, I have to admit that I LOVED the scene when Vega’s mom and little brother came home and Dash didn’t realize that the bikini picture was zoomed in on a giant screen behind him. It was a really cute, funny moment and I thought that that humor really hit, much more than the other attempts this episode made.
Overall First Impressions - Really strong opening but it lost some of it’s excitement and intrigue as the episode went on. It was a bit slow, as most pilots are, and I expected more, but I think it will improve with time as the actors settle in to their characters a bit more and the show finds it’s pace and tone a bit better. I want more from the actors - I want more from their interactions and chemistry. Overall, not a bad world to spend an hour in but it definitely needs to find a more consistent tone, and in my opinion, a much darker tone.
What did you think of Minority Report’s opener? I’d love to hear from people both familiar and unfamiliar with the movie and see what their impressions are. Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading!
About the Author - Kate Sidwell
Kate is a 24 year old, USA based, Psychology/Public Health Researcher - but that’s just her day job! In her spare time she is an avid TV watcher (some may even say addict!!). Some of her favorite shows are Jane the Virgin, Bates Motel, The Flash, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Rookie Blue, Silicon Valley, Beauty and the Beast, Sleepy Hollow, The 100, The Mindy Project, Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon a Time, The Royals, Orphan Black…so pretty much too many to count and a huge variety! She’ll give pretty much any show a chance! She also devotes a lot of time to her tumblr (
eat-sleep-breathe-tv.tumblr.com) where you can find her reviewing and commenting on most of these shows and just generally fangirling! She’s excited to be writing for SpoilerTV on Complications, Baby Daddy, Proof, Switched at Birth, Secrets and Lies, and Minority Report!
