A sci-fi thriller that's actually intelligent and exciting.

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2003)

**** out of ****
If not for Kurt Wimmer's fabulous Equilibrium, Minority Report would probably be my choice for (so far) the best sci-fi thriller of the decade. Pretty hefty statement, I realize, but Minority Report's a pretty hefty movie, one that plays as an innovative mix of futuristic sci-fi and film-noir. And I'm a little surprised nobody prior to Steven Spielberg has tried for for a similar formula (cases have been made for Blade Runner and Dark City, though I can't entirely agree).
Minority Report is set in the year 2054, a future that, outside of the roads and constant eye-scans, still visually resembles the present (or the past, in this movie's case). Tom Cruise stars as John Anderton, one of the heads of Pre-Crime, a division in Washington, D.C. that has the ability to stop murders before they happen, thanks to the work of three Pre-Cogs, psychics (two male and one female) permanently placed in a watery bath, delivering info about the future to the Pre-Crime division (just how it's done is revealed in a very clever and tense opening sequence).

Anyway, there's a debate over whether or not Pre-Crime should go national, and it's something that the people are going to vote on. The creator of this division, Lamar Burgess (Max Von Sydow), is a bit wary of the FBI agent (Colin Farrell) sent to investigate the way the division operates and the possible infallibilities.
Anderton himself has a bit of a mess in his personal life. He lost his son six years ago, is divorced, and is addicted to illegal drugs. But matters grow even worse when the Pre-Cogs' latest vision displays a pre-meditated murder (unsurprisingly stated as a rarity in D.C.) and the killer happens to be Anderton himself! Going on the run, Anderton struggles to escape his old teammates and discover the truth behind this vision; is it a mistake or a genuine view of a nightmarish destiny?
First off, let me say hats off to Steven Spielberg. The man's always had unfounded criticism tossed at him with virtually every film he's ever made. It's nice to see he's never dissuaded (or influenced) by such complaints, he's a filmmaker who's always crafted his films with a touch of confidence and genuine emotion that few directors could even hope to achieve in decades worth of work (in case you can't tell, I'm a Spielberg fan, meaning I've just incurred the wrath of David Lynch lovers).
Spielberg's work here is, right off the bat, much unlike anything I've ever seen him do. Sure, there was A.I., but not a segment in that film resembled Minority Report's opening scenes, a montage of quick-cuts awash in blue colors that builds in both violence and intensity, in spite of the fact this sequence moves backward (meaning the violent act is committed first, then we see what led up to it). The segment ends with a close-up of an eye, with the camera pulling back to reveal a woman lying in a pool, ominously stating the word, "murder." It's a chilling, daring intro that holds a lot of promise, and instead of disappointing, the rest of the film actually manages to improve upon it.
The future that Spielberg presents here is entirely believable, from both a societal and technological viewpoint. Most interestingly, when I first saw the previews, I'd expected a "Big Brother" type society akin to 1984, one in which the government monitored all the actions of the people. But that's not the case here. The government presented here questions the ethics and logic behind Pre-Crime because if this were reality, it would be a subject matter of serious concern, and not just hive-minded behavior and blather about how this is for the good of humanity. Finally, we get a film that features a dark view of the future, but simultaneously gives us reasonable, intelligent characters that realize there are pros and cons to everything.
On a dramatic level, Minority Report delivers with as much resonance as A.I., and maybe even moreso when you factor in just how coherently and cleverly Spielberg and the writers tie all the subplots together. The emotional baggage is handled mostly by Tom Cruise, who does quite an admirable job; maybe that's an understatement, like the man or not, he delivers one of the better performances I've seen all year. In vital supporting roles, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton shine with charismatic and powerfully dramatic performances, respectively.
Plot-wise, the film is on solid ground with a few admittedly major stumbles. One of the movie's narrative burners is the move to make Pre-Crime national, which when you consider the logistics, is almost impossible (3 pre-cogs, an entire country, the cops have to decipher the location through the visual clues; let's face it, you'd need thousands of pre-cogs to pull it off). (Major spoiler here) The film's big plot twist, while fairly surprising and thought-provoking, doesn't completely hold water. It's a nice, well-done time loop, but if you consider what happens, then by that basis, I'd suspect a LOT of people could just as easily be accused of murder on such thin ground.
Whether or not Minority Report would appeal to the traditional summer crowd is a little iffy. There's not a whole lot of action (though the jetpack chase/car factory fight is one of the most hectic, exciting action scene I've seen all year, probably surpassed only by the climactic battle in Equilibrium), the story requires undivided attention (and maybe even a repeat viewing to gather in all the themes), and the downbeat, almost pessimistic tone will throw a lot of viewers off. But for those who do get caught up in this twisty tale (and that should apply to most people), Minority Report offers a lot of rewards, more than you could reasonably expect from a big-budget blockbuster.
A lot of people see Minority Report as a warning for how far technology could go and bite us back. While such a statement works to an extent for A.I., Report is mostly about morals, accepted ethics, and an intriguing look on just how far people are willing to go for their own survival in this "winner takes all" society. As far as science fiction goes, the genre hasn't been this damned smart and thought-provoking since Dark City.