The 2002 sci-fi thriller stars Tom Cruise as a Washington cop in a special unit called ‘Precrime’ that apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics termed ‘precogs‘.
Set in 2054, it features all kinds of interesting technology, partly because in pre-production director Steven Spielberg convened a think-tank to brainstom details of what a future reality might look like.
The Wired article points out that the film suggested the following developments:
Gesture-based Computer Interfaces
Flexible Displays
3-D Holograms
Identity-Detecting Advertisement Cameras
Robot Scouts
Predicting Mistakes
I remember seeing the film in June 2002 (if I remember correctly Frank Skinner and Graham Linehan were also there) and the tech aspect that struck me most was the multi-touch hologram display Cruise’s character manipulates in order to view images.
This video points out that the sound on an iPhone appears to be some reference to the film.
UPDATE 14/11/08: Engadget have a video of the interface developed by one of the science advisors from the film (along with a team of other visionaries).
Dubbed g-speak, the OS combines “gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels,” to deliver what the creators call “the first major step in [a] computer interface since 1984.”.
Hollywood has long had an interesting relationship with technology from classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to nonsense like The Net (1995).
If you are a billionaire industrialist trying to make a robotic suit that will turn you into a superhero, you still face the same dilemma as millions of computer users: do you use Mac or PC?
In this summer’s first blockbuster, I caught a glimpse of a heavy duty Dell workstation and some Mac Pros – maybe he uses the Dells to crunch some stats and the Macs for the sleek design? Or maybe the two companies paid Marvel a ton of money to feature both.
One of the most startling scientific revelations from this summer’s movie season was that Indiana Jones could survive a nuclear explosion by hiding …in a lead lined fridge.
The problem is that, even if he didn’t get flattened, horribly burned or suffocated (kids, don’t hide in refrigerators), Indy almost certainly would have gotten a lethal dose of radiation from the fallout.
Will the next Indy movie be called Indiana Jones and the Fallout from the Lead Lined Fridge?
The cutest futuristic robot since Silent Running charmed audiences worldwide with his impressive devotion to cleaning up planet Earth and love of old musicals.
However, given that the film takes place hundreds of years into the future, I think we can safely assume the 20th Century Fox musical will by then be in the public domain. Unless News Corp and Fox owner Rupert Murdoch lives forever (which shouldn’t be ruled out…)
When she needs a phone at her wedding in order to get in touch with her husband-to-be (Mr. Big) she is dismayed at the iPhone’s touch interface, saying ‘I can’t work this’.
Maybe some brushing up is needed for the next film?
5. BATMAN HAS THE NEW NOKIA ‘iPHONE KILLER’ (THE DARK KNIGHT)
Not only does he have a brilliant CEO named Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) who supplies him with all the gadgets a night time vigilante needs, but he also has an intimate knowledge of Gotham’s phone network.
However, in a move that will give Steve Jobs pause for thought, Bruce is introduced to the new Nokia ‘iPhone killer’ by Lucius on a trip to Hong Kong and it proves invaluable in extraditing a criminal.
7. ALIENS THINK GOOGLE AND YAHOO ARE SILLY NAMES (MEET DAVE)
Like some internet refuseniks (mainly older guys working in the newspaper industry) the aliens in the unfunny Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave are tickled pink that humans search and store information in places called Google and Yahoo.
Believe it or not, this was actually one of the funnier jokes in this dull Eddie Murphy vehicle which saw an alien spaceship (Eddie Murphy) land on Earth piloted by lots of little aliens led by a Captain (Eddie Murphy). Confused? Google it.
When you are the victim of a radiation experiment that periodically turns you into a large green monster, what do you do when hiding out in Brazil from the clutches of the US government?
Whilst Tony Stark seems happy to multitask on both, it seems Mariah Carey is a Mac devotee. In the Adam Sandler comedy You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Mariah appears as herself in a cameo and in one scene her assistants are asked what she prefers: Macs or PCs?
Given that the film was funded by Sony, I was fully expecting them to say ‘PC’ and that (like James Bond) she is a huge fan of the Sony Vaio laptop. But no, they look at one another – as if to say ‘what a silly question!’ – and eagerly report she loves Macs.
Many people find that that DVRs like the TiVo has changed their TV viewing habits, but in the new Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder we find that it has more uses.
But given that the film hasn’t opened yet I don’t want to spoil why…
Can you think of any other memorable tech moments in the movies this summer?