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| Release Date: | June 21, 2002 (US), July 4, 2002 (UK) |
| Runtime: | 145 min |
| Rated: | PG-13 |
| Genres: | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller |
| Directed by: | Steven Spielberg |
| Written by: | Philip K. Dick (short story), Scott Frank (screenplay) |
| Starring: | Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow, Lois Smith, Peter Stormare, Tim Blake Nelson, Steve Harris, Kathryn Morris, Mike Binder, Daniel London, Neal McDonough, Jessica Capshaw, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jessica Harper |
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 Crime is definitely on the list of things we can do little about to stop. There are the police, men who are designed strictly to uphold what we perceive to be the universal law of justice and to protect our very lives. There is technology made to detect an outbreak in the pool of decency, such as security cameras and anti-theft devices. And there are punishments designed strictly to discipline those caught and teach a lesson to those still on the outside of the law's reach. But that is strictly the problem. There is no way we can be here and there and everywhere without the absence of presence when a singular crime occurs; it is (for the most part) private action. The government has been trying to collect our hands in this policy for eons now, but they cannot be at every crime to be there to stop it. However, the imagination leaves little restraint against those sorts of thoughts. What if there was someway we could be everywhere and yet back where we need to be in an instant, ready to do our duty? Even more so...what if we could prevent a crime from happening before it ever occurred? It is impossible, yes. But there's always room for future improvement. The question is: Could something go wrong in such a system? The public would like to think no. But for certain people, the truth can be scarier than fiction. Phillip K. Dick's story "The Minority Report" is put on the big screen for the sole purpose of enticing that idea.
Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is an agent for the concept of "Pre-Crime", a system in which crimes are stopped before they occur. To do this, there are three beings known as Pre-Cognitives ("Pre-Cogs") who perceive the future of murder (and only murder) and project it into the Pre-Crime Headquarters' systems. Once the information is thoroughly processed and picked through by hand (in an amazing computer design the agents use to visually comb the broken scene), agents are dispatched to the area and left to put together the puzzle. From that point, it's simply a matter of changing the future. At the point that we're delivered into the film, Pre-Crime is at an extreme high. There has been not a murder since Pre-Crime hit its full active drive. And life is very good for Anderton, an agent who is very good at what he does. With nothing difficult in motion, he is free to mourn the loss of his boy (deceased) and the loss of his wife (moved away). All this changes when the Pre-Cogs perceive a future for John Anderton: apparently, he murders a man. Naturally, John hightails out of the headquarters and makes it for the nearest stop for help -- the elderly gardener who begat the Pre-Cogs. She informs him that there has never been a mistake made in the Pre-Cogs' lives, but.…. (spooky pause) they have disagreed from time to time. These disagreements are logged on what is known as a minority report. If Anderton can come across these files, he can beat the system and prove his innocence. And so begins yet another day of the weird and intertwined.....
Phillip K. Dick is known for sprawling plotlines. If you've ever seen Impostor, Total Recall, or Blade Runner, I think you've grown accustomed to that. Steven Spielberg, by the feel of things, was perfect for this role of translating the story from page to reel. Don't expect me to comment on that, because I haven't read it. But it's obviously not the book you're interested in, it's the movie -- this is a movie site, after all! So let's continue.
Lemme just say that acting....well, if you've read my explanation on acting critique in my other reviews, you'll realize that there's one thing I can say on that subject: Either it works or it doesn't. It works in Minority Report. The thing I must really comment on is the combination of Spielberg’s direction and Dick's amazing story of futuristic resolve against one of the most unsolvable plagues to man of all time. To put it rather bluntly, this is one of those films that will either make you go "whoa!" or "huh?!" The first answer will be prompted if you followed the film in a observant fashion throughout your viewing experience. The various twists and turns in Minority Report will render you in a statement of permanent "ness"-ness lest you be living in John Anderton's world yourself. The second answer will be made if you weren't paying enough attention or if you're not that good at solving fictional mysteries. Minority Report is a true mystery, through and through. But it's far from your average whodunit; mysteries, as they should, constitute both a story and a perplexing problem, not just who died and who did it. Those are fairly easy. Minority Report deals with who did it, why they did it, what will happen, what happened then, what happened now, did it all really happen, and so forth. If you're not good at this stuff, you will be lost. You may need to watch it again. Yes, it's one of those kind of movies.
So did I like it? Yes I did. The special effects are great and the twisted, visceral story that pulls itself through itself many, many times hit the cinematic spot. There is a good reason that this film is very good, and that is because it refrains from hopping down the old treaded bunny trail when it comes to story ideas. It's new, it's fresh, it's original, and it's handled the way we want it to be: Completely. So pop that Blockbuster clerk a couple of bills. The question for you is: Will you be a "huh?" or a "whoa!" |
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Jesse Rose
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