Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report raised important questions about free will, and just four years later, a different sci-fi action thriller starring Denzel Washington and Val Kilmer explored similar ideas: Déjà Vu. Tom Cruise’s Precrime Chief John Anderton and Denzel Washington’s ATF Special Agent Douglas Carlin are both law enforcement agents who push technology further than anyone else to change the future. While Minority Report 2 Never happened, the thematic link between the two films makes Déjà Vu A spiritual successor.
Based on the novel The Minority Report by Philip K. Dick, Minority Report Takes place in the near future, set in 2054, and using precogs to predict a crime that has yet to be committed is a technology so well-established that it’s about to be expanded nationwide. Déjà Vu is set in the present of 2006, where a metaphysical breakthrough allows the same ideas Minority Reports history pauses about Destiny and predetermination to be played by looking back in time rather than forward.
Déjà Vu’s time travel story saved the premise of Minority Report
Minority Report is built around the idea of stopping something that hasn’t happened yet. Through the precogs, precrime agents know who and when crimes were committed, but not where or why. Déjà Vu introduce “Snow White,” a space-time bridge between the present and a very specific past, exactly four days and six hours earlier. In Déjà VuDenzel’s Carlin is recruited to help solve a bombing that has already occurred. Using Snow White, Carlin uses clues of when and how to solve who, essentially working off of the opposite information that the red balls provide the precrime unit.
Minority Report Looking to the future to stop a crime that is believed to be inevitable from happening, however Déjà Vu Does the opposite…
in Déjà VuBecause Carlin approaches Snow White’s abilities from a policeman’s angle instead of a scientist’s, he pushes past the mathematical machines to prove that it is possible not only to observe the past, but to interact with it. Carlin first sends a note back and then eventually himself, Change the course of the future and prevent the bombing of success. Minority Report Looking to the future to stop a crime that is believed to be inevitable from happening, however Déjà Vu Do the opposite: look to the past to create a different future.
Minority Report vs. Déjà Vu: Which Time Travel Movie Was Better?
History remembers this major collaboration in Minority Report
After many rumored collaborations between Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, Minority Report was a highly anticipated summer blockbuster between the two film titans. Even with a high budget for the era, Minority Report was a box office success, recovering over three and a half times its budget. Critics and audiences responded well Minority ReportWith the sci-fi film even winning an Oscar for Best Sound Editing. in comparison, Déjà Vu Had a decent box office total, making back more than double the budget, but overall had mixed reviews – despite being the third of Denzel Washington’s films with director Tony Scott.
Comparisons of Déjà Vu & Minority Report |
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Déjà Vu |
Minority Report |
|
Box Office |
$180 million |
$358 million |
Budget |
$75 million |
$102 million |
Rotten Tomatoes Rating |
55% |
90% |
Metacritic score |
58/100 |
80/100 |
Minority Report And Déjà Vu Ask similar questions but approach the topic with different tones and genres. Minority Report is hard sci-fi with a cyberpunk aesthetic and elements of horror as well, and Minority ReportThis iconic use of AI is shockingly ahead of its time. Déjà Vu is more of a crime thriller with a time travel hook. Both Minority Report And Déjà Vu Are excellent movies about fate, however Minority Report Is the time travel story film history remembered.
- Release date
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June 21, 2002
- runtime
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145 minutes