4 stars (out of 4)

Rating: 9/10 (15 October 2002)

The year is 2054. Tom Cruise plays Detective John Anderton, who works in the "pre-crime" division of the Washington, D.C. police force, and is a key figure in a successful experimental program to arrest murderers before they commit the murder, based on the visions of three "pre-cogs" floating in a tank. The film opens with a "red ball" case, in which there is little warning and therefore time is of the essence. The pre-cogs provide visions and (inexplicably) the full names of the future murderer and the victim(s), but nothing else, so John is left to try to narrow down the location based on that limited data.
He goes to work in front of a futuristic wall sized display, using special gloves that recognize his movements and gestures as commands to zoom, discard, and so on. Classical music plays on the soundtrack, conveying the impression that he is as skilled as a concert musician at working his way through the data. Eventually he has enough clues to leap into action with the rest of the SWAT-like team, flying across town in a futuristic blade-less helicopter-like vehicle, trying to reach the murder scene before the murder occurs. The pre-cogs' determination of the time of the murder is down to the second, so they always know exactly how much time they have left.
Soon after they return, the pre-crime unit is visited by Detective Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell), who has been sent from the Justice Department to looks for flaws in the system before an imminent critical vote on whether or not pre-crime should go nationwide. We also meet Anderton's boss (Max von Sydow) and learn more about Anderton's past.
If you've seen the previews, the next revelation will be no surprise, but you might want to stop reading now if you want to minimize your knowledge of the plot... John Anderton's name shows up in the system as a future murderer. It is predicted that he will murder someone who he has never met in less than 36 hours. He runs, and the movie takes off running with him.
I think what makes the film work so well is the story. It is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, whose short stories are also behind "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall." One of the two screenwriters wrote the screenplays for both "Get Shorty" and "Out of Sight." It's simply a first-rate whodunit with lots of twists and turns that feel real, with great humanity mixed in.
The film also presents a fully fleshed out view of the future. There are sensors in public places that can identify and track people by their retinal patterns, and in a memorable scene, mechanical spiders that fan out throughout an apartment building to scan all the occupants (the spiders are excellent computer animations, while the building itself was apparently a real set). There are newspapers that change to show the latest news, and advertising posters on the walls that customize themselves and talk directly to the specific people as they walk by (a particularly objectionable part of this future if you ask me).
The acting is solid if not spectacular, with the possible exception of Samantha Morton, who is very good as one of the pre-cogs. I also think Tim Blake Nelson is good in a small role.
The cinematography is consistently a little hazy looking and almost monochromatic. This is obviously an intentional effect, but it was a little distracting to me.
I just realized that I haven't mentioned that this film was directed by Steven Spielberg. This film is far from the cold detachment of "Artificial Intelligence: AI" and probably closer to some of his earlier work. Think of it as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" with way more action, or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with less but a more thought-provoking story.
This film is one of the few films that has gotten a wide release that I can recommend without reservation. This summer, this film and "Road to Perdition" are the best bets among the event films.
Seen on 8/11/2002.