Excellent futuristic film

Rating: 8/10 (26 June 2007)

Tom Cruise is the star of "Minority Report," a 2002 film from Steven Spielberg. Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Steve Harris, Lois Smith, Neal McDonough and Jessica Capshaw also star. Cruise is John Anderton, a futuristic cop at a time when murders can be prevented by being predicted ahead of time by three precogs. When the precogs see him kill someone he doesn't know, he attempts to find out who has set him up and why and keep the murder from happening.
"Minority Report" has a clever script beautifully handled by Spielberg. (The title refers to a report generated when all three precogs don't have the same vision of events.) Some of the effects are awesome, and one can easily see them becoming realities in the future. Newspaper headlines change before your eyes, disks are in the form of holograms, the images that the precogs see are projected, and the police see the whole event by moving their hands around the screen. People travel using jet packs. Everyone is identified by retinal scans. In one scene, Anderton, on the run from his own unit, has his eyes removed and new ones inserted so he can go around without being recognized. He is also given something that can place under his chin and dramatically alter his face for a very short time. There are some very exciting and tense scenes, as well as some poignant ones - Anderton goes home at night and puts a hologram into the computer that brings back his dead son. His vulnerability in that area will bring him more grief.
The cinematography is very unusual, giving the film its own special look. There are tributes throughout to film noir and Kubrick.
This is a thrilling film with excellent performances, with Samantha Morton a standout as Agatha, the most sensitive precog, who is kidnapped by Anderton to help him uncover the truth. She is amazing. I am not always impressed by Tom Cruise. As an actor, he is somewhat external; however, it works very well in this type of slick film. Von Sydow is always good. And it was wonderful to see handsome Neal McDonough of Boomtown. Lois Smith has one big scene, and she comes off as both eccentric and mysterious.
The future may be closer than we think. Don't miss this provocative, suspenseful and disturbing film from one of the great cinematic masters.