PILOT REVIEW: Minority Report

MINORITY REPORT

Starring: Stark Sands, Meagan Good, Nick Zano, Daniel London, Laura Regan, Li Jun Li, Zhane Hall, with Wilmer Valderrama

Based on the short story by Phillip K. Dick and the film "Minority Report"
Developed by Max Borenstein
Written by Max Borenstein, Directed by Mark Mylod

THE PREMISE
Minority Report is based on the 2002 Tom Cruise movie of the same name, which in turn is based on a 1956 short story. The show is set eleven years after the film and the premise was pretty clearly set-up in the first couple minutes of the show thanks to a voice-over narration. The Pre-Crime unit, which can see crimes before they happened, has been dismantled and those Pre-Cogs from the unit have been banished. The pre-cogs included siblings Dash (Stark Sands), Arthur (Nick Zano), and Agatha (Laura Regan). Arthur has left his pre-cog ways behind and Agatha is a recluse but Dash returns to DC in 2065 still intending to solve crimes before they happen. He secretly teams up with Detective Lara Vega (Meagan Good) to do so. The only actor returning from the movie is Daniel London as Wally the Caretaker of Pre-Cogs. Zhane Hall plays Lara's younger brother, Rico. The rest of the main cast make up the crime-fighters team. Akeela (Li Jun Li) is a crime scene technician and Will Blake (Wilmer Valderrama) is a police detective.

THE REVIEW
Minority Report is trying to be all sorts of things in the pilot and it runs into a problem that many pilots like this do - not striking the right balance of exposition and an exciting story. Despite the many futuristic elements, this seems like a bit more of a "case of the week" show than you'd think. Yet, it also will feature an overarching story. So basically it's Person of Interest in 2065. I never saw the movie so I had nothing to base it on but it didn't grab me. I'm not a sci-fi/futuristic fan but I do believe a very high quality show can still win me over and this one didn't.

First of all, there were just too many unintentionally funny moments. I know he was a pre-cog and banished to an island and all that, but Dash still uses an old fashioned stopwatch on his wrist? Seems like by 2065, there would be something different especially given all the other futuristic gadgetry we saw in the pilot. The recreation of a crime by Meagan Good early on in the episode was downright silly with it's bizarre mix of high tech equipment and what I can only describe as yoga moves. Plus, they referenced an Iggy Azalea song as an "oldie." Sigh... we get it, it's 2065 and it's different yet the same as now.

It's clear from the set-up that they are trying to get a little bit of the Sleepy Hollow banter between the two leads but it doesn't work here because Stark Sands seems pretty humorless so far as Dash. The "visions" were used far too often and it got tiring quickly. In fact, it seemed like each commercial break was welcomed back with Dash "coming to" after a tense moment. I know that wasn't the case but it felt that way. The actors are fine, but nothing special. I still think Meagan Good could be solid somewhere if put in a good show but she hasn't found the right vehicle yet. Also, I still have a hard time not hearing Fez in every show Wilmer Valderrama has been in since. The one storyline I was mildly interested in was the dynamics between the three siblings, but that was barely touched in the pilot. Too much time was focused on a boring case of the week.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Nope. This show wasn't for me. It had to do a lot to overcome its genre in my book and it fell far short of that.