Minority Report

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.

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.

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 . . .

Unfortunately, as compelling as the title is, the association to the movie ends there. This show is a dry, regurgitated old formula that serves up a stale excuse for yet another crime solving series. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, if you are willing to be creative with it. Think Gotham, Daredevil, SVU ... those are all very good, creative shows, that wind up being "crime solver" shows. The show in this case doesn't even spend time on fleshing out and developing the juicier imagination picking questions that the movie raised. Unfortunately the show takes place a decade after the movie and misses out on what is likely a whole season of potential. Kill it now.

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.