On the Lam Before There's a Lam to Be On

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2010)

In 2001, Steven Spielberg bowled me over with his sci-fi story "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." In 2002, he took another stab at a sci-fi story for adults, and while not as good as the previous film, it comes close.
"Minority Report" is a satisfyingly nasty little piece of work about a world in which law enforcement officials can see crimes before they happen and arrest perpetrators before they've done their foul deeds. Great system, unless you happen to be one of those officials who's pinned with a crime you haven't yet committed and don't realize you have any intention of committing. That's what happens to Tom Cruise, and the movie is about his efforts to evade capture while being chased by Colin Farrell.
The special effects are nifty. A highlight of the film is one in which the police send an army of little mechanized spiders into an apartment complex to spy on all of the inhabitants, and we get a birds-eye view of all the things they see. The story raises all sorts of big brother-ish questions about privacy and individual rights, questions that felt especially relevant so soon after 9/11 and Bush's homeland security initiatives.
Grade: A-