Another manipulative, sappy, preachy Spielberg movie

Rating: 4/10 (19 June 2002)

Why is it every time I see a Spielberg movie, I always leave the theater feeling as if I have just been manipulated? This movie is no exception. Everything about this movie (the music, the script, the photography, the editing) serves the purpose of making sure I share Spielberg's viewpoint about the movie's rather contrived situation. I especially resent this type of emotional manipulation when it tries to make a greater statement about our present day criminal justice system through questionable comparisons. The movie's premise is an interesting one and I think we would all agree that constitutional rights need to be protected but, at the end of the day, this movie is just another sappy, preachy Spielberg movie. (And why is it everyone in the future has a hovercraft? Even more importantly, when do I get my own hovercraft?)