Senior Spielberg Strikes Back

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2002)

************WARNING: CONTAINS ONE OR TWO SPOILERS**************
It is hard to describe minority report. On the one hand it touches on brilliance, the design rationale, the cinematography and special effects are all second to none. The story is compelling and, although it is a long film, the action and story drag you along with it. The ideas and concepts it touches on are thought provoking and interestingly dealt with and the concept of the pre-cogs is an interesting one (although their creation/evolution was not dealt with as thoroughly as I would have liked, but then, I am a nerd for things like that!)
On the other hand, however, it seems a fairly sterile affair. Tom Cruise elicits no real sympathy. The supporting characters are pretty nondescript and Agatha is a bit annoying, staggering around screaming like she just drank a bottle of scotch. And the dark nature of the film (the eye clamps, the ethical dilemma's, the fact that Cruise says the F word, even though it is rated '12' (a swearing first in a Spielberg film, I believe) is repeatedly punctured by things like the 'comedy' spiders and the rolling eyeball jiggery pokery and there are one to many sugary sweet moments. I felt that we could have empathised with Andertons loss just as easily without as many flashbacks/holo-recreations.
I would have liked Spielberg to have focussed slightly more on the pre-cogs. Maybe a flashback scene to the children's home or an establishing scene of the pre-crime division, showing its teething problems and how the pre-cogs fitted into the system or 'groomed' for the task. But like I said, I am a sucker for a back story.
I enjoyed Minority report in spite of its flaws (although, in the broader sense of things these really were, in fact, fairly minor niggles). It is a solid, well made film and, although there is a certain lack of empathy for the main characters, I feel the story and concepts stand well on their own, driving the narrative forward and allowing the plot to evolve. I think it will stand the test of time and maintain a high position in the IMDB rankings, once the hype has died down and the true ratings emerge and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this film to anyone.
4 out of five, 1 and ¾ thumbs up, ripe tomato or whatever.
The only thing I couldn't work out about this film (He still had access to the building because the man in charge was setting him up, dummies) was that, if all the pre-cog children died, who was going to foresee murders around the country, when pre-crime went national? Correct me if I am wrong but weren't the pre-cogs borne out of the unrefined version of the drug, which has since been purified? They couldn't use the three existing pre-cogs as they appeared to have a range on their talents (only predicting crimes within the city). And if they did manage to get more pre-cogs, what would be the chances that they would be pretty lame (like the twins) and not oracle-like (like Agatha). I'm confused.