Minority Report (the motion picture), whilst retaining some of the ideas of the original novel, is largely a very different story. Only two characters are retained from the original, John Anderton (who had seemingly lost his middle name) and Witwer (whose first name has been changed from Edward to Danny). Some of the other characters bear a passing similarity to those in the book, but not to any great extent. The major differences in the film version are as follows:
John Anderton has no middle name
John has separated from his wife (who is now named Lara Clarke Anderton) and had a son, Sean, who was abducted six years before the story starts
John has developed an addiction to the drug ‘Neuroin’
Witwer is now an FBI agent; his first name has been changed to ‘Danny’
John is no longer the inventor of Precrime; this role falls to Dr. Iris Hineman, who assists John when he is a fugitive
John is also no longer the Commissioner of Precrime, as this role doesn’t exist: The leading figure of the organisation is Lamar Burgess, who is eventually revealed to be the villain of the piece
The appearance of both John Anderton and Witwer are somewhat different to their descriptions in the book: John is now an attractive, slim young man with a full head of hair, whilst Witwer has dark brown hair and brown eyes. The two appear to be about the same age
The year in which the story is set is not specified in the book; in the film it is given as 2054
Furthermore, in the book Precrime has been running for 30 years, whilst in the film it has been around for 6 years and its continued existence is about to be determined in a national vote
In the world that the film takes place in, the main system for identifying people is by scanning their retinas: however, it is revealed that one can cheat the system by transplanting another person’s eyes into one’s own head, thus appearing on the scanners as someone else
The story is notably different; see the ‘Plots’ section for more details
The information given surrounding Precrime is often fundamentally different:
Predicted murders can now be analysed as visual data, which can be used to determine the location and time of the offence – this is undertaken by John Anderton, and is each time observed by two independent auditors to ensure that no foul play occurs
Precrime is now situated in Washington D.C., not New York as in the book
Anderton and other Precrime workers can actually see the previsions of the Precogs
The murder rate has dropped by 90% since the introduction of Precrime (in the book this figure is 99.8%)
Precogs can sometimes see ‘echoes’ of crimes that have already been prevented/committed
Instead of punchcards, previewed murders are inscribed on wooden spheres, because the shape and grain is impossible to forge
The names of the Precogs are changed from Donna, Jerry, and Mike (in the book) to Agatha, Arthur and Dash (in the film)
Precogs are no longer hydrocephalic idiots, as in the book, but instead the children of Neuroin addicts
It is established that, should someone be informed of their future before it happens, they are able to change it through choice – this happens to both John Anderton and Burgess throughout the film
Minority reports are no longer stored at Precrime, as in the book, but deleted immediately so as to raise no questions about supposed guilt. The only way to obtain a minority report is to hack directly into the brain of the Precog that saw it
The Precogs are situated inside a room known as the ‘temple’, to which no-one is allowed access (except Wally, the Precog mediator) – this is to prevent tampering with the reports
In the book, any of the Precogs may see a minority report; however, in the film, Agatha is clearly set out as the most talented of the three, and thus the only one who may form a minority report
In the film, is it established that the three Precogs work as a ‘hive mind’ – they can only preview the future when all three are present. In the book, no such suggestion is made
It is admitted in the film that it is possible to cheat the system of Precrime by faking an ‘echo’ – thus, by paying someone to commit a murder, then recreating the murder in exactly the same way after the original perpetrator has been arrested, the report of the murder would be dismissed as an echo of the original crime
Precrime was originally invented not as a way of preventing murders, but simply as a way of curing the children of Neuroin addicts
Precrime in the film can only predict murders, and no other form of crime – in the book, Precogs could see any kind of crime before it happened
|
|