Minority Report Structure

Screenwriters Scott Frant and Jon Cohen utilize a single 'What-if' premise from the short story by Phillip K. Dick and translate it onto a classic Pursuit-Escape template. Excellent use of a Prologue to establish the world in which the characters live and their roles (exposition). Once we know how the Precogs operate, the chase is on. Like the Bourne Identity, both Anderton and Bourne pursue and are pursued in order to solve a mystery: Why is Anderton being set-up as a future murderer? versus why does the U.S. Government want Bourne dead? Note how foreshadowing is used to introduce us to the characters that Anderton will meet in order to understand Agatha's vision of Ann Lively's murder and understand why he has been set-up for Crow's future murder. Many films conclude a character's role in a story by killing them off (such as Capt. Borodin in The Hunt for Red October). But Danny Witwer's death is intimately connected to the key revelation of Burgess' role in the story and thrust the story into Act III.