# What movie was this? \*Spoilers for unknown movie\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605 "2009-08-16T06:21:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/1 "2009-08-16T06:21:30Z")
For some reason, I just got reminded of something I saw a little while ago (or at least I think I saw it…it’s possible, but unlikely I just made it up) and now it’s bugging me from where it’s from. Any way, I remember nothing of the movie itself (I think it was a movie…could’ve been a shrot film, maybe?) and can only recall what happened from a narrative perspective. In short, someone died (I think someone’s child?) and then the movie shows what the kid’s life would have been like had that not happened. Yup, that’s all I remember. If anyone knows what the hell I’m talking about, I’ll be forever thankful…until I forget that too. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/2 "2009-08-16T06:24:21Z")
Sounds like **Minority Report**. The precog was telling Tom Cruise about his kid, growing up, being a fast runner, etc. Then the precog police come down and place him under that eye-stun device. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/3 "2009-08-16T06:28:26Z")
> [@kasuo](#): > > Sounds like **Minority Report**. The precog was telling Tom Cruise about his kid, growing up, being a fast runner, etc. Then the precog police come down and place him under that eye-stun device. Wow, I think you just nailed it (and holy shit that was fast…and with no help from my horrible description). For some reason, I thought it was a movie I had seen far more recently, which was throwing me off. Well, thanks! That was going to bug me all night if someone didn’t guess it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/4 "2009-08-16T07:28:12Z")
Wait, really? That doesn’t sound anything like **Minority Report** ; the movie isn’t about what Tom Cruise’s kid’s life would’ve been like if he hadn’t been killed, nor even is this ever depicted, to the best of my memory. Perhaps there was a brief scene where the precog on the lam discussed it to console or humor Tom Cruise, but that would be the extent of it. I mean, if that’s the movie you were thinking of, then it’s the movie you were thinking of, but in that case, it’s all the more amazing that someone got it. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/5 "2009-08-16T07:36:26Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Wait, really? That doesn’t sound anything like **Minority Report** ; the movie isn’t about what Tom Cruise’s kid’s life would’ve been like if he hadn’t been killed, nor even is this ever depicted, to the best of my memory. Kasuo described the scene in his post. It’s very much in the movie. I also didn’t mean to imply the the movie was based around that concept, as from what I remembered, it pertained mostly to the ending, but I avoided saying such to prevent others from being spoiled even more so. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/6 "2009-08-16T16:49:59Z")
I’ve seen a short film based on this idea, too. Don’t know what it was, but it definitely was about what their son’s life would have been like. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/7 "2009-08-16T17:37:41Z")
It’s not an uncommon theme. The episode titled “[Little Boy Lost](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy_Lost_(The_Twilight_Zone))” from _The New Twilight Zone_ is about a photographer who is torn between taking an overseas assignment and getting married when a fourteen year-old kid suddenly walks into her life. She gradually realizes this will be _her_ kid if she chooses to get married. Similarly, I recall an anti-abortion commercial that featured a woman just full of regrets about what her son would have been like had she not… you know. I personally thought the message was ambiguous, undermining the common pro-myth of women who have abortions casually and capriciously. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/8 "2009-08-16T19:02:07Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > I also didn’t mean to imply the the movie was based around that concept, as from what I remembered, it pertained mostly to the ending, but I avoided saying such to prevent others from being spoiled even more so. Oh, ok. I guess I misinterpreted your description, then (and have forgotten a scene or two from the movie). Fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/9 "2009-08-16T19:05:25Z")
Isn’t it just a short scene near the end, at that… beach house? And the bald precog shows Tom (and wife?) the son’s possible (or hmmm… alternate timeline?) life. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/10 "2009-08-16T19:07:43Z")
Y’know, it’s stylish at The Dope to rag on the too-tied-up-at-the-end aspect of it, but that is a fun movie. I’m going to go get it-- bye! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-movie-was-this-spoilers-for-unknown-movie/506605/11 "2009-08-16T21:53:45Z")
My son and I just watched _Minority Report_ a few weeks ago. I remember that scene well, although I agree it wasn’t central to the plot. Also, it doesn’t _show_ what the son would’ve done, the precog Agatha just describes it. Good movie, IMHO - and ISTR at least one Doper suggesting that everything that happens after Tom Cruise’s character Anderton is captured and imprisoned takes place in his own mind, while he’s “on ice;” the guard had earlier said that prisoners may dream the years away. So the villain gets away with murder(s)! _The Return of the King_ has a brief scene in which Arwen has a vision of the son she would have with Aragorn, if Sauron fell and she didn’t take ship into the West. _It’s a Wonderful Life_, of course, has quite a bit about what might happen if a particular boy hadn’t been born. I haven’t seen it, but _The Butterfly Effect_ has a similar angle, from what I’ve read.