Minority Report’s ending has sparked theories ranging from the shutdown of the Precrime system to Tom Cruise being in a “halo-dreaming state”.
Released in 2002, Minority Report still ranks as one of the most outstanding pieces ever tamed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tom Cruise in the lead, it dealt with the themes of free will versus determinism in a world where the Precrime police foresees crimes and stops them before they take place. But things take a turn for the worse when Cruise’s hero gets framed for murder.
While it eventually results in the system being proven inaccurate and being safely shut down with all the potential murderers and precogs being freed, some fans haven’t quite been satisfied because of the questions left unsettled. If anything, this has even to theories that Tom Cruise’s John Anderton may be living in a halo-dreaming state while the Precog program continues to run!
Minority Report Ending Theories and John Anderton’s Halo-Dreaming State
After Tom Cruise‘s John Anderton publicly declares that the Precrime system is not 100% accurate since not everyone who gets predicted of murdering someone goes forward with them, the system gets completely shut down and the precogs are sent to an undisclosed location to live in peace. But this raised a major question: Why shut down the system completely?
As Redditor r/SonOfPlinkett argued in a discussion that even if the program wasn’t entirely accurate in predicting murders, it was still “100% accurate in predicting potential murders.” This could help with law enforcement as, even after someone gets predicted of committing a potential murder, they could be put on trial, with the reigns of this future being handed to the judge and jury.
That’s not all. The Redditor further argued to simply let the potential murderer go free as “the worst that person could do is try to commit another murder, but the precogs would just see that happen anyway and the Precrime police would just stop it again.” Of course, this theory is as valid as ever and justifies why the entire system needn’t be shut down completely in the first place.
Something I never understood about the ending of Minority Report
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But while this theory seems to want to change the ending, a fan shared a different perspective, leading to a whole other level of chilling interpretation to take place about it. As per r/Infernal_Contraption, all of these things happening in the final moments don’t actually happen and are just parts of the halo-dreaming state that Anderton currently resides in.
Explanation: In the movie, there’s a moment when a cop describes that when a person is given a halo, it’s almost like they are in a blissful sleeping state where the person afflicted is able to dream of everything they have ever wanted and perhaps even yearned for. Additionally, this state is so peaceful for the person that they wouldn’t want to wake up from it even if they could.
Something I never understood about the ending of Minority Report
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Aligning this theory with the events that happened with Anderton makes it fit perfectly. As r/Infernal_Contraption pointed out about Tom Cruise’s character: His estranged ex-wife rescues him singlehandedly, they reunite and escape, uncover the conspiracy, beat the bad guy, and free the slaves who get to live in a cottage that looks like a box of Christmas chocolates in the countryside.
Of course, this theory does make the end of the Steven Spielberg-helmed masterpiece at least 10 times creepier, since Cruise’s character may be blissfully sleeping while the Precog system continues to run. At the same time, it also sounds like the perfect interpretation of the end – except that it also has some flaws to pick, starting with Anderton’s missing son.
Contradictions to This Minority Report Theory
While this fan theory offering an alternate perspective on Minority Report‘s ending sounds as viable as ever, it has a glaring flaw that can’t be ignored. As Redditor r/Agent_023 pointed out in the comment section, the one fact arguing Anderton being present in a halo-dreaming state this entire time is the absence of his son Sean, who was abducted and went missing years ago.
In the movie, it has been shown that Tom Cruise’s hero joined Precrime in the first place after his six-year-old son disappeared and was never seen again. This was also one of the major reasons why he suffered from depression and addiction to the drug “neuroin” in the film. This means that the presence of his son in his life was one of the greatest wishes Anderton could ever ask for.
However, the end of the movie contradicts this situation. While he does get his estranged wife back who gets pregnant with their second child, this doesn’t make up for the absence of Sean in Anderton’s life, who obviously played a major factor. And since this dream-like state gets the person everything they have ever wanted, Sean’s return should have taken place as well.
But of course, this plothole could be put aside as well by assuming that Anderton eventually decides to let go of his long-gone-missing son now that he has gotten pretty much everything else back. Plus, since he is seemingly getting a second chance at life with his wife’s pregnancy with their second child, the possibility of this happening is actually pretty high.
Well, as confounding as that entire movie was, it seems like Minority Report‘s ending will forever remain a thrilling mystery answered differently by each fan’s respective perspective and interpretation of the same.