MovieChat Forums > Minority Report (2002) Discussion > They ripped off the entire plot of The F...

They ripped off the entire plot of The Fugitive!!

posted 9 years ago by edlitz36
12 replies | jump to latest

Rewatching Minority Report last night with some friends, I couldn't help but notice that MR utilizes the EXACT SAME plot structure of The Fugitive. Not that this makes Minority Report bad, both movies are very well made and explore different themes. But you can't deny the parallels:

The Fugitive vs. Minority Report

1. Protagonist is on the run, being pursued by armed federal agents.

2. Each wanted for murder...

3. ...a murder they didn't commit!

4. A murder in which they both were framed.

5. Each protagonist is offered help from their trusted friend and colleague...

6. Who turns out to be the person who framed him!

7. And the bad guy framed them because each protagonist discovered a secret cover-up of their illegal activity (falsifying medical research, drowning the pre-cog's mother).

8. Each antagonist engaged in this illegal activity to get a major new program approved (a new drug, a new crime stopping program) that helped further their careers and made them rich!

9. Each protagonist mourns the loss of a murdered loved one (wife--The Fugitive, son-- MR).

10. Each protagonist spends most of the movie trying to prove their innocence.

11. And it turns out the mysterious assailant the protagonist is pursuing is not the main bad guy but just a paid patsy (the one-armed man in TG, Leo Crow in MR).

12. Each protagonist performs jaw-dropping stunts to evade capture.

Dam jump (TG)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sjEAX4iymo

Elevator hopping (MR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrxyr1CjiSM

13. Each protagonist changes their facial appearance to avoid detection

Kimble shaves his beard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=retwzL4j5Vs

Anderton injects the ugly face serum in MR.

14. Each protagonist steals a vehicle while on the run (ambulance in TG, Lexus in MR).

15. Dr. Richard Kimble makes a phony ID to sneak into the hospital and gain access to hospital records -- John Anderton gets an eye transplant to sneak into pre-crime and gain access to archive records.

16. While riding in an elevated train/subway car, the protagonist is recognized by a stranger who is reading about them in the newspaper, on the front page no less!

The Fugitive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9eeusYrDPc

Minority Report:
@ 0:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhpCu-ZJiu4

17. While being pursued, each protagonist grabs an item to put over their head to blend in with the crowd and avoid capture.

Kimble grabs a green hat to blend in with other St. Patty's Day parade marchers.

Anderton grabs an umbrella and holds it open over his and Agatha's heads and blends in with the other pedestrians with open umbrellas.

18. Both protagonists are later accused of killing a police officer which intensifies the manhunt.

Kimble is accused of shooting the subway cop in The Fugitive.

Anderton is accused of shooting Colin Farrell in Minority Report.

19. Both federal agencies learn about the cover-up and the protagonist's innocence.

Tommy Lee Jones discovers the truth of the one-armed man and the conspiracy against Kimble.

Colin Farrell (who leads the hunt) discovers the conspiracy of the false echo before being killed by Max von Sydow.

20. And they each have the same ending, the protagonist confronts the bad guy at a black tie banquet (in their honor) and reveals the truth of their crimes to the other shocked guests at the banquet!

The Fugitive: "You switched the samples!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ6-5U94lg8

MR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHLzITVRlCo

21. And oh yea, one-armed man (TG) -- "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" (Minority Report).

But to be fair, Dr. Richard Kimble only ate an egg sandwich (after he shaved) and took a fresh carton of milk,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=retwzL4j5Vs

while Tom Cruise ate a moldy ham sandwich and drank sour milk from a glass bottle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GurNiNV5XvY

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] karlhinze 9 years ago

That is an excellent post.

It's very difficult to disagree with any of it, except maybe for point 11, as the one armed man did actually kill Kimble's wife, although I understand the point you are making.

Again, great post nonetheless.

Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoile

[–] granitodiaz 9 years ago

many movies used that cliche, not just minority report

The stupid have one thing in common.They alter the facts to fit their views not the other way

[–] edlitz36 9 years ago

Which cliché is that?

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] yurenchu 9 years ago

LOL, nice write-up! 

But I'm sure those are just coincidence; they are simply oft-used plot devices and staples of the genre. I'm sure a lot of those also apply to e.g. Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible III (2006), and No Way Out (1987).

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] granitodiaz 9 years ago

so true, innocent person who has to prove is innocent, and top law enforcement agency who has to fight his own people, are very common cliches in Hollywood

The stupid have one thing in common.They alter the facts to fit their views not the other way

[–] edlitz36 9 years ago

These are not simply cliches being rehashed. Each film explores different ideas and themes but the plot structure of both films are identical. For f-ck's sake, there are scenes that are lifted directly from The Fugitive (the stranger spotting the protagonist after reading about him in the newspaper while riding on an el-train-- or the parallel of blending in with other pedestrians using a hat/umbrella)-- not that those replicated scenes weren't done well in MR. And the endings are the same!

Religion should be made fun of. If I believed that stuff, I'd keep it to myself. -Larry David

[–] yurenchu 9 years ago

The endings weren't the same. Warning: SPOILERS!

Minority Report ended with Lamar Burgess killing himself, and a flashforward to PreCrime being dismantled, Anderton reuniting with his wife while expecting a baby, and the precogs living peacefully in a secluded cabin in nature.

The Fugitive ended with Jeroen Krabbé getting shot (if I remember correctly) by Tommy Lee Jones after an extended fight/chase sequence, and Tommy Lee Jones bringing Harrison Ford as an arrestee into his car and removing the handcuffs on him while having a friendly chat.

A chased protagonist being spotted by another person from a newspaper or other medium, and the blending-in with other pedestrians/traffic has been done in many movies before. Those scenes are merely cliché -- did they even happen in the same point/order in the plot structure?

Another cliché in Minority Report is the chased protagonist persuading or being persuaded by a stranger of the opposite gender to help him/her and work together (see e.g. Commando, The 39 Steps, North By Northwest, In Time, The Living Daylights, Cypher, Code 46, Total Recall, Three Days Of The Condor, The Bourne Identity), but that didn't happen at all in The Fugitive.

Minority Report and The Fugitive both have the premise of a new, important, promising but flawed "product"/procedure that's on the brink of being introduced widely to the public. With such a premise, it's only logical that the protagonist would be the one who discovers the flaw, that he'll be framed to be silenced and hence has to go on the run (using cliched evasion tactics such as disguising one's face, blending in in public, faking a different profession, or when in a tight spot taking a leap where others wouldn't follow), that he was in a close relation with the culprit, and that the climax will happen during a banquet/event that celebrates a major step during the "product"'s introduction. But that doesn't mean that one knowingly ripped off the plot from the other.

By the way, Double Jeopardy and U.S. Marshals also have a lot in common with these movies. (They even both feature Tommy Lee Jones as the noble chaser.) The movie Salt probably too.

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0

[–] mikenbondi 9 years ago

Note that the original Minority Report story was published in the decade BEFORE the TV series of The Fugitive.

[–] karlhinze 9 years ago

So?! Minority Report the film is only loosely based on the SHORT story. The finer details of the film were made for the film alone, and I agree with the OP - there are a lot of similarities with The Fugitive.

Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoile

[–] mikenbondi 9 years ago

Have you read the story?

[–] karlhinze 9 years ago

Yes, what's your point?

Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoilers!Spoile

[–] aniruddhgaming 9 years ago

Half of them are cliches, not just minority report or fugitive, many films have used them