Entertaining but plot *too* illogical

Rating: 5/10 (15 February 2003)

The movie is visually great, and I found it entertaining. I didn't even guess *all* of the plot twists before the end.
But I got annoyed when I reflected on the plot and tried to mentally fill in the missing pieces. This is impossible. Not only did the movie have the usually "causal impossibility" of "B is the direct cause of A-is-true", and simultaneously "A is the direct cause of B-is-false" (future murder causes precog tagging, but precog tagging falsifies the occurrence of the future murder), but try to answer the following question :
How was Tom Cruise's character Anderton set up for the framed killing? That is, what actions did the framer take in order to cause Anderton to go to the high-rise apartment and shoot the impersonator? We're told that he arranged for the impersonator to do the impersonation, should he meet someone matching Anderton's description. Presumably the impersonator may have also been told to be at a particular place, with the fake "evidence", at around a particular time or times, and to expect Anderton to come by and shoot him. But how would arranging the impersonation CAUSE Anderton to go to the high-rise apartment and meet the impersonator? It's insufficient! The framer should have acted directly on Anderton to lure him to the scene of the "crime", to make sure that he had a reason for going there and would meet up with the impersonator. For example, Anderton could have been given a false message, by the framer, to lure him to the same place where the impersonator was. But instead, all we are told indicates that the *cause* of Anderton going to the scene of the crime was...that Anderton was seen by the precogs to be at the scene of the crime. But wait! The framer couldn't plant visions into the precogs, could he? How could the framer know that the precogs would see Anderton committing the "crime", or how could the arrangement with the impersonator be the cause of their seeing this? It's not enough. There is no causal connection between the set-up and Anderton's falling into the trap! Anderton went there because the precogs saw him go there. And they saw him go there because he went there. And he went there because they saw him go there. And....and...
So now the main plot line has collapsed into "A is the precursor and direct cause of B", and simultaneously "B is the precursor and direct cause of A". And yet there's a third event C--the plot to frame Anderton,--which isn't a direct cause of either A or B! My tolerance for the usual nonsense of time-tripping paradoxes is now exceeded.
I would have given this movie high marks if only I could shut my mind off after viewing it. There are many other aspects of the plot that Spielberg should be ashamed for anyone to try to analyze. (Why would the impersonator put faith in his family's being rewarded by a man he "didn't know" the identify of?) But the paradox of paradoxes I describe here is the big doozy for me. Enough to sour me on this film.