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Minority Report vs. War of the Worlds


Josh500

Minority Report vs. War of the Worlds   

60 members have voted

  1. 1. Which SCORE do you personally prefer?

    • Minority Report
    • War of the Worlds
  2. 2. Which MOVIE do you personally prefer?

    • Minority Report
    • War of the Worlds


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Yes, I've done this one before, I remember, but in honour of the upcoming release of the long-awaited Complete MINORITY REPORT...  :ola:

 

I gotta say, score-wise definitely Minority Report, but movie-wise it's War of the Worlds by a very slight margin. I've come to appreciate the latter a lot over the years. It might be considered one of Spielberg's hidden gems. However, the score to Minority Report is vastly superior, what with "Everybody Runs," "Anderton's Great Escape," "A New Beginning," "Sean's Theme," and the "Minority Report" (theme)!

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2 minutes ago, Thekthithm said:

Both have some good bits in them that I really like. 

 

Definitely! 

Just now, Thor said:

Very tough call. I gave MINORITY REPORT the edge in both cases, but I think WOTW is both a great film and score. Very, very underrated.

 

Despite the subject matter, WotW seems like a more realistic and lifelike movie and story, whereas MR seems like an operatic or theatre performance with cartoonish elements. At least for me. That doesn't say anything about the quality of these movies, of course, but the former type is just more to my personal liking.... 

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9 minutes ago, Arpy said:

John Williams + aliens? Hell yeah!

 

 

 

Let's see... :D

 

E.T.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

War of the Worlds 

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Minority Report easily my preferred film. I was disappointed by WotW whereas I enjoyed MR once I understood it.

 

Score-wise, MR has some better highlights (WotW can't match Anderton's Great Escape) and I think better themes, but WotW is more consistent and more accessible for me.

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Minority Report for both, and it's not even close.  I think War of the Worlds was strongly in the running re: better movie, but that movie REALLY screwed the pooch in the third act.

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WAR OF THE WORLDS has so many great elements -- the opening mayhem, the basement scene, the gorgeously dark, red fields of blood and so on; it's just a proper gripping sci fi thriller all around. People complain about the feelgood ending with the father-son reunion, but I have no issues with that. In fact, it's very much a redemptive scene in Spielberg's filmography, since deceptive father figures have been so dominant in all of his films. Superb film! And Williams goes as dark as he possibly can, with a few exceptions (Barry's abduction in CE3K, the molestation scene in SLEEPERS etc.).

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It's been over 10 years now, but if I recall correctly, my problem with WOTW wasn't the happy ending, but rather the abruptness of the ending.  It goes from scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to sneezy aliens lose out of nowhere in one very quick scene.

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22 minutes ago, Thor said:

People complain about the feelgood ending with the father-son reunion

 

Well, my bigger problem is how genuinely awful Justin Chatwin is in the role.  Terrible actor.

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The daughter yelling "is it the terrorists" was so painful.  Spielberg was trying so hard to capture the 9-11 hysteria, but the country had moved on (at least in terms of visceral, emotional reactions).  I think that is his worst instinct, especially of the last 20 years.  He wants so desperately to make a "relevant" political statement that he does it in an over-the-tip manner at the expense of grounded narrative and dialogue.  

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2 hours ago, mstrox said:

It's been over 10 years now, but if I recall correctly, my problem with WOTW wasn't the happy ending, but rather the abruptness of the ending.  It goes from scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to scary menacing setpiece to sneezy aliens lose out of nowhere in one very quick scene.

 

Yes, that was my first impression too when I watched this in the theater. 

 

But a funny thing happened. The more I watched it, the less noticeable and jarring the abrupt ending became. 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Well, my bigger problem is how genuinely awful Justin Chatwin is in the role.  Terrible actor.

 

Hmmmm. Was it a terrible actor? Or a terrible character? 

 

I think a little bit of both. Even if played by a talented actor, I think this character would still have been pretty obnoxious and terrible! 

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There are some very effective scenes in WOTW, yes.

 

If I say it's not close, it's more indicative of just how much I love Minority Report, not necessarily of me hating WOTW.

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WOTW for score, I just can't get enough of it. The movie has very good scenes, indeed, but it doesn't hold up as a complete experience, sadly. It could've been so excellent.

 

Minority Report holds up much better as a movie from beggining to end. Even if it has the post-90's action/adventure Spielberg syndrome of thinking up first the setpieces and then figure out the rest of the film. It feels tighter, and Tom Cruise works as the protagonist. In WOTW... not so much.

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MR for both. It's still a gripping thriller with fascinating glimpses into the future. WOTW is rather trashy, though it has a few superb scenes, but the crappy screenplay mucks it up. He would have fared better with Byron Haskins old plotline. 

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War of the Worlds movie just isn't very good. It doesn't even feel like a Spielberg movie. I like the dramatic stuff from the score, but the album runs too long and loses my interest.

 

Minority Report is far more entertaining. It's one of the last Spielberg movies I enjoyed. The score is also one of my favorites.

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Both albums are quite odd. What was Williams thinking when he combined all those short nondescript cues into this 10-minute Escape from the Basket in War of the Worlds? It makes no dramatic sense and kills the last section of the album. When these short cues are sprinkled in between bigger setpieces, as they are in the film, it flows so much better. It would have been better actually if he dropped the first 7 minutes of that track altogether and included the Woods Walk cue instead. Minority Report is also really strangely put together. It's not even about the chronology, the pace feels off.

 

Karol

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I actually just gone done listening to the Minority Report OST album for the first time in a while.  Holy cow, it's not a very good listening experience!  It starts off fine bouncing back and forth between highlights for a long while which is fine (if a bit unorganized), but then the final four tracks in a row are just a brutal final 20 minutes of the album.  All the music in those tracks makes so much more sense presented with all the music written to be in and around them.  Oi!

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The reason I picked WOTW score over MR is because at least it feels consisent. I like a lot of MR as music but I don't quite get what it's trying to be as whole. The family drama music feels very at odds with hyperactive action music which also feels too cheerful for the Herrmannesque suspense. It feels like every track of the OST is in its own universe with no sense direction. As impressive as they might seem on their own. I'm hoping the expanded set will help me better understand this score.

 

Plus I really love the brutal bleakness of WOTW. So unlike anything else in Williams/Spielberg catalogue. Epilogue is one of my favourite concert pieces in the 21st century.

 

Karol

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To me, film-wise there's no comparison, with Minority Report being much more finely constructed. And it holds up to this day.

Both scores are superb, but I find the WotW more interesting, with its stark contrast between raw, powerful action pieces and the elegiac moments, many of which I find sublime. I agree with Croc about the Epilogue. Such an extraordinary writing. I always felt there was something Ligeti-esque about it, that makes it so compelling. I wish it were played live more, since I think it can hold on its own amidst classical works. 

 

I've always dreamed of a symphonic work based on material from this score. Unfortunately, for some reason Williams doesn't seem to be very keen lately on revisiting it in the live performances.

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1 hour ago, Madmartigan JC said:

Unfortunately, for some reason Williams doesn't seem to be very keen lately on revisiting it in the live performances.

 

I was shocked that A New Beginning made it into Spielberg / Williams III

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4 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

I was shocked that A New Beginning made it into Spielberg / Williams III

 

Not only made it in but that he made revisions to it!  I was so happy to see he hadn't forgotten it.

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49 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Ha, ha...I hear ya! Some bizarre opinions here.

 

Have you ever met an opinion that originated outside of your own brain that you didn't think was bizarre?  Anyway I reckon I like the films about the same.  Both are good Saturday night flicks, especially in the summer.  WOTW's score is really good but MR is what I dig the most.

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In one respect WotW kicks MR's ass, though.

 

At the worldwide box office, MR made 358,4 million, whereas WotW managed to earn an impressive 591,7 million! Not bad. 

 

2 hours ago, Romão said:

Everybody Runs! would be included in any list of my favorite JW tracks. It's one my favorite action tracks ever

 

Yes! Most people seem to ignore it or not to notice it, but I agree 100%!

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9 minutes ago, Thekthithm said:

I prefer the Billy Thorpe music from the 1988 TV series of WotW.

Yeah. It was pretty neat.

 

 

7 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

It doesn't even feel like a Spielberg movie.

Are you joking?

From a biographical point of view, it's typical late-flowering Spielberg.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Romão said:

Everybody Runs! would be included in any list of my favorite JW tracks. It's one my favorite action tracks ever

My favourite track, on the CD...bar none!

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14 minutes ago, Cerebral Cortex said:

 

Indiana Jones 4. 

 

Yes. 

 

Also... A.I.? Or were those tall luminous beings robots from the future? I forgot. 

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