It looked cool, but fell short

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2002)

I am a huge Spielberg fan, and I have liked most of his films, including this one. But, I just can't understand how someone can butcher a story like this film did. Everything that made Dick's story different and exciting were cut out, replaced by special effects. My first gripe is Tom Cruise as the lead. He does not look like a middle aged, overweight balding man to me. And I know that the whole side plot of his kid and the kidnapping were supposed to add to the "complexity" of the plot, but was it really necessary? For the film, yes; without the side plot a lot of the action wouldn't make sense. But in the story, Dick didn't have to rely on cliched drama to create suspense and excitement. He created a world where the hero is flawed and happy endings don't and really can't exist. Dick's fantasy world is not far from reality. Spielberg, on the other hand, creates a visually believable futuristic world, but the story is unrealistic which adds an artificiality to the film as a whole. I think the film is visually stimulating and quite entertaining (with the added bonus of the very attractive Colin Farrell), but I think that the story is bogus.