MovieChat Forums > Minority Report (2002) Discussion > Attack of the Clones

Attack of the Clones

posted 5 years ago by Sidha108 (2735)
7 replies | jump to latest

It's interesting how Minority Report and Attack of the Clones both came out in 2002 and have several similarities to each other, almost as if George Lucas and Spielberg were in the same film production class that required students' projects to contain specific elements:

- both sci-fi films
- soundtrack by John Williams
- fight scene in rain involving jetpacks
- fight/chase scene in a factory
- chase through futuristic city
- villain played a veteran horror movie actor (Christopher Lee and Max Von Sydow)
- creatures creeping into bedroom while characters are sleeping

I'm sure there are others that don't come to mind right now. It's like Lucas and Spielberg were competing with each other like in 1977 with the original Star Wars and Close Encounters for the best sci-fi film of the year.

[–] Ace_Spade (9657) 4 years ago

Well, Lucas stormed Spielberg in '77, but Minority Report is a jet-pack leap ahead of Attack of the Clones. I think Minority Report is criminally underrated and forgotten for a film of its calibre. It should really be celebrated more.

[–] Burk48917 (11523) 2 months ago

oof, I rewatched this last night for the first time in years. It really held up poorly for me. I loved it when I first saw it in theaters way back when, and I watched it multiple times since, but probably 8 years since I've seen it last. It's really riddled with holes, and the tone is all over the place. Special effects look bad....I was a little let down.

[–] Ace_Spade (9657) 2 months ago

I had a very different experience on my recent rewatch. I think they should have gone for a more bittersweet or uncertain ending (but it's Spielberg, right?) and there are a couple plot holes, but nothing that bogs it down for me. The only one that bugs me a little is that his retinal profile still accesses PreCrime. Although, to be fair, it's still very, very soon after he starts running that he returns AND they might have assumed that he'd be scanned and tagged before getting near to the building (a point which is brought up earlier).

Anyway, for me, the SFX and the film held up and I still love it; but to each their own. My only regret is that I seem to have accidentally purchased the fullscreen DVD instead of the widescreen, so my rewatch wasn't as sumptuous as it should have been.

[–] Melton (5554) 2 months ago

Yep, it’s a modern classic.

I wish Spielberg would make more movies like this - just a great thriller peppered with brilliant Spielbergian set pieces.

Showed it to some friends recently who had never seen it and they loved it.

[–] Ace_Spade (9657) 2 months ago

It really helps that Philip K. Dick brought a great story to the table for them to work with, but the look and feel of the future world feels so accurate and complete. Things like the invasiveness of ads and animated cereal boxes - that stuff felt like it could really be where we're headed.

[–] Sidha108 (2735) 2 years ago

I’m surprised no one else has pointed this out

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

I will happily point that out. In fact, I started a different thread showing all the movies he ripped off for Minority Report.

I know that those two movies came out at the same time, but I don't think it's a coincidence. Spielberg started becoming a RIPOFF artist a long time ago. It's not even that Minority Report resembles Attack of the Clones but that so many other movies as well, such as The Fugitive, Men in Black and A Space Odyssey.

I talk about that here: https://moviechat.org/tt0181689/Minority-Report/6408791c03d22c2deb864fdc/Started-ripping-off-other-movies-with-this-film-but-no-one-seems-to-know-or-care

I think there's something very sinister going on with Spielberg and his "pull" in Hollywood. It started as early as Poltergeist, when Tobe Hooper supposedly was supposed to have directed that movie but it was obvious that Spielberg controlled the entire thing to such an extent that without even knowing it, audiences immediately knew it was him.

I don't believe it was a coincidence that so much of this movie resembled Attack of the Clones, since so much of this movie also resembles other movies that came before, particularly Men in Black and A Clockwork Orange. I wouldn't be surprised if Spielberg maybe poached a member of Lucas' creative team or had spies reporting back to him.

For instance, the scene of a person getting trapped inside of an assembly line definitely sounds like Lucas, but it doesn't sound like Spielberg.