The usual whodunit

Rating: Null/10 (28 September 2002)

"Minority Report" is a science fiction story that deals with Premonition. It talks about a scenario in which the world can see crimes that are going to be committed and prevent them from happening.
Tom Cruise plays the chief of the "Pre-Crime" division which deals with tracking and preventing murders before they occur. The division takes the help of a scientifically mutated group of siblings who dream of murders that are going to happen in the future. But, can one be arrested for crimes that he or she has not yet committed? Is there a flaw in the fundamental assumption of "Pre-Crime"? These are some of the questions that "Minority Report" addresses. Tom Cruise himself gets caught in the web pre-crime when he sees himself murdering a man. Is this the truth or does the system have a flaw? The rest of the story deals with how he tries to extricate himself.
Steven Spielberg directs the movie in a commercial mould. He dilutes the storyline from what could have been a strong sci-fi to a whodunit. It has all the elements of a usual thriller : The suspicious looking guy whom the audience suspects from the first frame, the harmless man turning out to be not so harmless, exciting special effects and some futuristic gadgets including eye scanners and back pack jets. The movie could have been a great sci-fi if it did not suddenly become a framed-hero-on-the-run movie. Tom Cruise still looks like the Mission Impossible agent. I would give it not more than a 5/10.