Great, but Not Vintage Spielberg

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2002)

When you have Schindler's List, Jaws, Color Purple, and SPR on your C.V., anything you do creates great expectations. To that extent, Minority Report was a tad disappointing because I was hoping to be blown out of my seat. When I look at it in its own right, it is great entertainment, but not in Spielberg's top 5.
The plot is simple and complex all at once, and is the most intriguing part of the film. The Department of Pre-crime is run by Tom Cruise in the city of Washington DC. With the aid of three psychic "pre-cogs", murders are anticipated and prevented, but the would be perpetrators are still arrested and imprisoned. Out of nowhere, the pre-cogs predict that Cruise will murder a man he does not know. Now it seems that the system which for six years has been perfect, has a flaw. Or does it?
That description does not do the plot or the themes in this film any justice. What may be most entertaining about this film is the extraordinary emotion, conversation and debate it generates. Can you punish someone for an intended crime? Can that person not control his fate? Is the pre-cog a willing participant in all this? How can such a system be beat? Moral, technical, and legal issues abound around this film, while it carries on as a great action movie. Extremely complex.
We could debate all day about possible tiny plot holes dealing with the visions of the pre-cogs, Tom Cruise's eyes, his run from the law and other points of the film. But when you watch this film, remember that exposing flaws of pre-crime is a goal of many of the characters. Perhaps that is simply what it being done.
As with every Speilbergian outing, you have a stunning technical achievement in this film. Janusz Kaminsky can see a film like no other person on Earth, and the special effects serve the plot, not the other way around. The scene with the spiders is worth the price of admission alone. Special mention to Samantha Morton is wonderful supporting role as Agatha, one of the pre-cogs.
I give a strong recommendation to this film, but don't go in looking for a future classic. ***1/2 out of ****