Films Based on the Works of Philip K. Dick: Minority Report, Total Recall, a Scanner Darkly, Next, Screamers, Total Recall 2070, Paycheck

by Books LLC

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 39. Chapters: Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Next, Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau, Paycheck, Total Recall 2070, Impostor, Radio Free Albemuth, Confessions d'un Barjo, King of the Elves, List of films or television series based on Philip K. Dick material. Excerpt: Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia in the year 2054, where "PreCrime," a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called "precogs." The cast includes Tom Cruise as PreCrime captain John Anderton, Colin Farrell as Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer, Samantha Morton as the senior precog Agatha, and Max von Sydow as Anderton's superior Lamar Burgess. The film is a combination of whodunit, thriller, and science fiction. Spielberg has characterized the story as "fifty percent character and fifty percent very complicated storytelling with layers and layers of murder mystery and plot." The film's central theme is the question of free will vs. determinism. It examines whether free will can exist if the future is set and known in advance. Other themes include the role of preventative government in protecting its citizenry, the role of media in a future state where electronic advancements make its presence nearly boundless, the potential legality of an infallible prosecutor, and Spielberg's repeated theme of broken families. The film was first optioned in 1992 as a sequel to another Dick adaptation, Total Recall, and started its development in 1997, after a script by John Cohen reached Spielberg and Cruise. Production suffered many delays due to Cruise's...

86 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 2010

Reviews

[Zlatolist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surely not all are at the same level, but most are brilliant.