Minority Report

Steven Spielberg sets Minority Report in the near future of 2054, in which the technology is advanced, but not far-fetched. Cars can drive themselves and ride up elevators, computers come with holograms as a user interface, and stores recognize you from your eyeball scan. As all science fiction fans know, however, the genre is not about technology but about ideas. The big idea for Minority Report is based on a short story by the venerable Philip K. Dick. In this future, there is a "pre-crime" unit in the police force, which revolves around three psychics who are able to see violent crimes before they occur. These visions are projected in a flat screen panel and manipulated by detectives with the grace of a symphony conductor. Equipped with futuristic stun guns, jet packs, and search robots, these cops then arrest and intern the criminals before the crimes are committed.

We learn all this in the first ten minutes of the movie. After this introduction, the plot really starts when Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) finds out that the precogs saw him kill someone, someone that he has never met. He finds himself in a race. With the forced recruitment of a precog, Agatha (Samantha Morton), he must clear his name before the predetermined murder. All the while, his old buddies, now helped with a special agent from the FBI (Colin Farrell), are trying to track him down.

Spielberg, with Janusz Kaminski, his cinematographer for many films, have crafted a visually stunning movie. The special effects are seamlessly incorporated of the world they created. The muted blues echo the style of black & white film noirs. John Anderton is similar to noir's morally ambiguous characters--a good cop with an illegal habit that is forced (by circumstances and desire) to betray the very things he loves.

But this is not just a special effects or mystery movie. The characters, all well drawn, are supremely acted by the cast. Tom Cruise is a good physical actor and he shows it here. By the way he sits or walks, we can intuit the grief and confusion that's going through him. Samantha Morton does a good job of portraying a haunted young lady who has seen too much. Colin Farrell skillfully balances the ambitious and professional sides of his character. As always, Max von Sydow authoritatively plays the respected father figure.

This is one of my favorite Science Fiction films. I would also recommend the following films. These (I think) influenced Minority Report.

"The Maltese Falcon" ~ film noir "A Clockwork Orange" ~ science fiction "Blade Runner" ~ science fiction (also based on a Dick story)

***** out of *****

Before they joined forces to give sci-fi fans their hugely disappointing version of War Of The Worlds, Spielberg and Cruise worked together on Minority Report, a near-future tale based on a short story by Philip K. Dick in which violent crimes can be predicted and prevented from occurring, the perpetrator intercepted before they can carry out the deed. Star Cruise plays pre-crime cop John Anderton, who finds himself on the run after it is predicted that he himself will commit a murder.

The good news is that Minority Report is a lot more enjoyable than the duo's H.G.Wells debacle, with an engrossing murder mystery plot, lots of great visuals, excellent production design, and some well executed and extremely fun action set-pieces, all of which help detract from the story's inevitable paradoxical issues and Spielberg's occasional, frustratingly unrestrained direction (Cruise leaping from car roof to car roof on a towering vertical road stretches plausibility a bit too far, but at least it's not 'nuke the fridge' bad).

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for the 'sick stick' a police baton that makes the victim projectile vomit.

It's the year 2054 and mankind through the good graces of pioneering criminologist Max Von Sydow we're about to abolish crime all together. Von Sydow employs three psychics, no doubt the three best in the world and while it looks life is a pretty dull thing for them, spending all that time in water the better to receive images they're doing yeoman service to mankind anticipating murders to come. Right at the beginning of the film we see them in action as police are dispatched to capture Arye Gross as he's about to murder his wife and her boy toy.

But some disturbing images come in regarding police chief Tom Cruise murdering a man who he doesn't even know. Now Cruise is a Richard Kimble like fugitive and he hasn't done the terrible deed he's supposed to do. But one of the water bound psychics turns in a different interpretation of the images she sees. It's that Minority Report that Cruise is interested in so Samantha Morton is taken by Tom who wants very much to find out what's going so he can alter his destiny if possible.

I won't say more other than destinies can be altered and images can be manipulated and wrongly interpreted by some malevolent forces at work.

Cruise and Von Sydow and the rest of the cast turn in some fine performances for Steven Spielberg. And Spielberg's own vision of the future is fascinating. I did love those images of horses making a comeback as a method of transportation. I'm guessing that fossil fuels had polluted the planet enough and we wanted biodegradable waste once again.

Science fiction is always interesting, even the worst future films offer us someone's vision of the future be Steven Spielberg or Ed Wood. Spielberg at least has the talent to bring it off.

And maybe crime prevention taken to its ultimate is not such a good thing. Watch Minority Report and see how you feel.

May be this film has some flaws but while watching it I wasn't too distracted by that. Here we have one of the greatest directors alive (Steven Spielberg), a very big star (Tom Cruise) with a great ensemble (Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Peter Stormare, Samantha Morton, Tim Blake Nelson) around him, a good cinematography (Janusz Kaminski) and a nice score by John Williams all packed in a great story (based on the novel by Philip K. Dick) with perfect visual effects.

In the year 2054 murders can be predicted and stopped before they happen. If you were about to kill but stopped you are locked. Tom Cruise is one of the agents who stops those murders. Then he discovers the next murder they have to stop will be committed by himself.

I will not reveal more of the plot. The story itself is great. It is intelligent, but also exciting with great action scenes. The visuals are truly beautiful and perfectly support the sci-fi story. If you like action thrillers and you don't mind they are set in the future (with some futuristic gadgets) this is your film. 9/10.

Minority Report is the latest film from Stephen Spielberg that stars Tom Cruise as a cop from the year 2054, who works in the pre-crime division of the Washington D.C police department. The division's ability to stop murders before they happen is based on the psychic ability of three people who were mutant byproducts of a failed genetic program designed to help babies born from drug-dependent mothers. Cruise's character, John Anderton, is motivated by the loss of his own son, who was abducted and murdered six years earlier. Accordingly, he's a strong supporter of the controversial program, whose opponents feel it could potentially make an error and people might be wrongfully convicted, if not potentially rehabilitated. That action begins when Anderton is identified as a future killer, and he hits the road running. This may sound a little like The Fugitive, but in this case, you don't know if the man on the run is--or, rather, will be--guilty.

Based on a short story by futurist Phillip K. Dick, author of Blade Runner, the atmosphere of a dark world with high technology having gotten out of hand, almost as though it snuck up on us without our knowing, remains the theme. To remind us that we aren't controlled by technology, but are nonetheless overrun by it, there are frequent references to current-day familiarities, such as department stores and restaurants, such as The Gap and McDonalds, where impressively entertaining high-tech mass marketing gadgets know what you've purchased before and offer new suggestions for consideration. (Sounds like a visit to amazon.com?) Spielberg lightens up the tone with his signature wit and humorous quips and visuals now and then, as opposed to Ridley Scott's more serious and consistently dark visualization portrayed in Blade Runner.

As a plotline, Minority Report is intelligent, has a good consistent flow, isn't always predictable (at least not that long before it happens), has many twists and turns with legitimate dead-ends, and above all, tells a plausible story (even if the basic premise itself requires considerable suspension of disbelief). As Anderton begins to unravel the true story about the corruption behind the pre-crime program, he is lead even further towards his destination as predicted by the `pre-cognitives' who predicted his crime. To tell any more of the story would disclose too much; besides, it isn't necessary. You know all you need to know here.

The best parts of the movie are so good – from the high-tech special effects to the light-hearted humorous moments to the good, steady flow of the action and plotline – that the problems with the film are easily forgiven. That said, my main gripe is the presumption that, in the future, anyone convicted of a crime before it happens is immediately sent to a state of suspended animation, an alternative form of the death penalty. This is obviously one of the main sources of controversy within the storyline, but anyone can see that, in almost all cases, the predicted murders were not premeditated, if not potentially accidental, in which case, psychological counseling and some form of probation would be enough. There's nothing to suggest in the film that the context is a police state, which would allow the premise to make sense. Yet, so much of the movie is based on this premise, that may be bothersome to the discerning viewer. There are many such similar oversimplifications, each of which could be quite easily solved with a minor change or a quick dialog line or two, hence a mild sense of sloppiness in direction.

Still, in the end, these didn't bother me that much. I still had a great time, and enjoyed it as the frivolous and wonderfully playful action/thriller it was intended to be.