The Minority Report- Story vs. Film

It was interesting how very different Philip K Dick’s science fiction story, “The Minority Report,” was from the film. Of course the story’s main ideas were still included; the film took place in the future and centered on the concept of “Precrime.” In both the story and the film, the precogs envisioned that John A. Anderton, the Precrime Commissioner, was going to kill someone. This story line in Dick’s work, however, simply did not seem to be enough for a full length feature film. Therefore, the film incorporated all kinds of new plot twists; for example, the story of the disappearance of Anderton’s son, Agatha, the female precog’s mother’s death, the intense scenes in which Anderton under went a procedure to receive new eyes etc. I am typically disappointed after watching a film based on a book or story that I’ve read; the films tend to never meet the expectations set by the original literature. Usually, I find that new and additional plot twists in the films which change the original literature are unnecessary and do nothing to enhance the story. In this case, however, I felt just the opposite. In my opinion, all of these new plot twists found in the film seemed to enhance Dick’s vision. Because “The Minority Report” was such a short story, there were many aspects of this future world, including the Precrime System, that were left without further elaboration or description, leaving the reader to question and speculate. The film, therefore, was able to answer those unanswered questions, and give the viewer a better idea of what Dick’s vision could have looked like in more detail.