Minority Report

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.

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.

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Saying this has a "terrible story" just from 1 episode is rather impulsive of people. You've no idea how it'll go, well unless you are a psychic. Rest is just assumption. So sit down your butts for a bit there.

It's not a totally garbage show as most complainers have been saying. It's OK. Watchable. Acting is top notch? No. But it's OK, nothing terrible about it. Is the show original? No. But who cares? Most of the shows on TV are rehashed. You cannot expect writers to pop out originals all the time. It might get better, or become worse. Although it's likely it'll get cancelled.

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.

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.