Not bad, but not as good as others would have you believe

Rating: 4/10 (14 July 2002)

I went to see this film with not that great of expectations, it's reviews were flat out good across the board (something that still distresses me), but I was still skeptical of this seemingly (and truly) quintessential "popcorn summer flick." A lot of the film is glossed over, lacking any true backbone, and replacing it with amazing visuals and poorly paced action sequences. The main weakness in the film is the direction by Spielberg (not surprising considering the director, less Saving Private Ryan and more AI), he seems to not be able to make up his mind about what this movie is, at times making it purely a serious science fiction thriller, but then throwing in bits of slapstick humor (which proved to be quite painful and did lessen the movie overall) and mystery (Which was both predictable after a certain point and poorly acted out by von Sydow). The main problems that I have with it is the fact that Spielberg has cheapened the overall product quite a bit with just a few bad scenes. It's not all bad however, the acting is well done, mostly by Cruise, and the cinematography is probably the strongest part of the entire movie with several well set up shots that heightened the action sequences (brought down by their own terrible pacing and attempted humor). As a whole though, I think the movie could've been done a lot better if Spielberg had just tried to make a good movie on his own terms instead of a movie that would essentially please the audience, which it's done quite well apparently. If you're looking for nothing more than a cheap thrill, Minority Report provides well; I would not hope for much more however, as there is little behind Spielberg's visual facade.