Could, and should, have been so much more

Rating: 5/10 (31 December 2002)

As a huge fan of Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick, and sci-fi in general, I should have loved this film. So why did it leave me saying "ho hum"? Because good sci-fi as any true fan knows is not about the science or the effects or the story--it's about the characters. This film does very little in the way of character development. We get to know John a little bit but every other character on the screen is one-dimensional. SPOILER AHEAD You have no idea why Lamar chose to kill in order to set up a program to catch killers, you have no idea what makes Danny be so relentless, you don't know how such a crazy woman as Iris was able to lay the foundation for such a large program as Pre-Crime, etc. I left the film having many more questions than answers. And these were plot-related questions, not deep philosophical questions such as Blade Runner left me with. We the audience are supposed to care about the question of crime and its prevention, but that topic is forced far into the background by all the other plot elements crammed into this film, and thus you don't continue pondering it once the film ends. -Kurt