Goooood Sci-Fi

Rating: 8/10 (25 August 2002)

What could you expect from Steven Spielberg besides an intelligent well-done film? "Minoriy Report" is just that. Plus, it has the intensity of Tom Cruise's performance. If you ask me, it's a good mix.
The story is not that convincing though. Crimes being stopped before they happen. Hmmm. I was not so fond to the idea of humans being able to predict when and how a murder was going to happen. When I heard of the movie I thought it was gonna be like an enormous organic computer to calculate probabilities, give results and never miss. Anyway, the point is: police has now a window for peeking into the future.
Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, the top cop of this department who has unlimited faith in this system; he dedicates his whole life to it since he lost his son and wife. But his faith is torn apart when the system turns against him. And the running starts...
I think what I liked the most of "Minority Report" was Spielberg's vision of the future. It almost makes perfect sense (then again, except for the infamous pre-cogs): personalized advertising, eye scanners, 3D home videos, etc. Now THIS I call science fiction. I don't think I could have bared to see it under Paul Verhoeven's eye (originally, he was to direct the movie).
The whole look of the movie is fantastic. Unlike his 'compadre' George Lucas, Spielberg does not show off with visual effects in every frame of the movie. They are there alright, but he manages to blend the SFX with the background so nicely, your eyes take them as a whole. There's also that blurry look we saw in "A.I." that makes it feel like you're dreaming of it.
There's this one other thing: the ending. Is it just me or this ending is just as bad as "A.I."'s? I mean, in "A.I." they could just have put "THE END" when David finally reaches his Blue Fairy and close a very good movie. I feel the same happens here, but go see for yourself. Maybe it IS just me.