Entertaining blockbuster

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2020)

Great concept, one with themes of predeterminism vs. free will, as well as the use of advanced technology to fight crime with the drawbacks of loss of privacy and potential for abuse. There are some pretty cool moments, but overall it's flawed in execution; you'll have to suspend disbelief too many times, and there are lots of groan-inducing moments. Maybe the biggest one for me is Tom Cruise's character weepily saying "I want him back so bad" in a scene about his son, and there are several others where Spielberg should have trusted his actors to deliver emotions nonverbally, instead of having them say cheesy lines.
For my taste, the film would have been better pared down and darker both visually and in tone. Think of what it could have been if it had focused more on the weightier philosophical or police state aspects, as opposed to settling for the sentimentality of a personal story amidst an excessive number of plot twists. Think of the possibilities for an ending with either a skyrocketing murder rate or an injustice, something ambiguous or chilling. Think of what it might have been like delivered ala Blade Runner (1982), which was also based on a Philip K. Dick story.
With that said, Spielberg targets a blockbuster popcorn movie and there's a certain appeal to that, and it's reasonably entertaining. I also loved seeing 73-year-old Max von Sydow.