Man on the Run.

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2002)

Steven Spielberg returns to his roots from his suspense of JAWS in his latest film, MINORITY REPORT. Where his last film, A.I. was more of a film of wonder, MINORITY REPORTY is more of fear. The best way to describe this film is: "Spielberg does Hitchcock." It proves that when a old dog does tricks, he can do them well, and still impress people. MINORITY REPORT is based on the short story by the late Phillip K. Dick who wrote the novels for other sci-fi classics of BLADE RUNNER and TOTAL RECALL. In Washington D.C. of the year 2054, the strongest police unit in the force is the "precrime" unit. With the precrime unit, a officer can detect and find out when and where a murder is going to happen before the act is even committed. Detective John Anderton (Tom Cruise) feels that the system is perfect and precrime is what is keep society safe. John is then confronted by Ed Witwer (Colin Farrell) from the Attorney General's office who believes a theory: "if they see the person committing a act of murder in the future, how do they know that the murderer didn't change their mind at the last minute?" John sees this theory as nonsense until he is the next target of arrest for a murder of a man that he doesn't even know. John who hunted down killers is now the hunted, with his old partner, Officer Fletcher (Neal McDonough) leading the force after John. John must beat the countdown clock to zero to find out is he going to commit a act of murder and who is the victim? MINORITY REPORT has Spielberg return to the suspense genre with a big bang. This is one excellent and mind-blowing film that will please everyone in the audience. Where A.I. was for the thinking man and JURASSIC PARK was for the eye candy, MINORITY REPORT will please the intellects with the suspense filled Hitchcock plot and anti-punishment theme similar to Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. The ones for eye candy will enjoy the action scenes and the spectacular realistic effects of the future. My favorite is the transportation system of the everyday person and their express ways.
Another aspect of MINORITY REPORT that I enjoyed a lot was the use of blue and grey coloring. From the very begining when the Fox and Dreamworks studio logo appear, it gives the viewer the clue on what type of movie this is going to be. The coloring adds to the mood and tone of the story where this is a dark and mysterious future. Credit should go to Spielberg and his regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who use the same coloring that was in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and much more different than the colorful A.I. and HOOK. I also did enjoy the editing by Michael Kahn and the scoring by the legendary John Williams, who are both Spielberg regulars. Kahn does a great job by keeping the editing in a rapid pace, yet he gives the audience a chance to see what is going on. There is never really a dull or worthless scene that is shown in MINORITY REPORT. And John Williams does his Hitchcock style of music by doing a Bernard Herrman similar score from NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Which would make sense since both movies are about that same theme, the man on the run. The only thing I would complain about MINORITY REPORT is the character development. The actors all do a good job in their roles, but there isn't enough substance to understand on who the character's are. The viewer does get to know who John Anderton is, but that is pretty much the only character on who the film focuses on. There were some questions left open for me: Why did Witwer feel the system can have mistakes, yet he uses it to try to capture John? Why is the relationship between Precrime Director Burgess (Max Von Sydow) and John Anderton so strong? But that is small potatoes comparing with the rest of the film, and believe me the rest of the film succeeds! I haven't had this much with a film in a while. The suspense and action gives enough energy to make this two hour plus movie go by very quickly. I have to give this movie credit, I did not look at my watch once to see what time it was. I haven't done that with a movie in years. Where you have comic book action with SPIDER-MAN in one corner, the space opera of ATTACK OF THE CLONES in another corner, and the miltary gone wrong action of SUM OF ALL FEARS in the third corner. I would reccommend that you go to the final corner and view the mystery/action/suspense of MINORITY REPORT. And who knows, maybe after watching this movie, it might give you a different point of view on murder. Spielberg returns to the excitement and fun similar to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and JURASSIC PARK with MINORITY REPORT. Do yourself a favor and see this movie! ***** (out of five)