a loud brash piece of nonsense

Rating: Null/10 (24 April 2003)

Where to begin? Okay,Philip k.Dick has been done on the big screen twice before with varying degrees of success.Verhoeven and Arnie had a shot with the big budget Total Recall in 1990,great the first time you see it in the cinema,but get it home and (unless you have a screening room in your garage)you will see it for what it is-a glorified Outer Limits episode which turns into a chase movie as soon as it runs out of ideas 30 minutes in.Blade Runner with Ridley and Harrison is possibly one of the best films in any genre of the last twenty years,however you see it.This film is a conceit from start to finish of everything K.Dick ever wrote,of narrative,and of film making in general.Speilberg and Cruise have fashioned a high tech mish-mash of half-realised ideas,and thrown them at the screen hoping that nobody shouts "wolf".The premise-catching criminals by going into the future and apprehending them before they commit their crime-has so many possibilities,none of which are addressed by this film.The only thing this movie has going for it are the futuristic flying machines which look like they are straight out of a Chris Foss portfolio.As for the child abduction subplot,I have one question-Why?Does Mr.Speilberg not know what a dystopian society is?Missed opportunity.1/5