Mediocre - read the book instead

Rating: Null/10 (4 September 2004)

Not much left of Dick's superb short story in this film apart from the central idea. It's glossy and gimmicky and laced with pointless action sequences and the usual Spielberg happy ending syndrome. The Dick story ties up elegantly, the film's ending is messy and over-complicated. Plenty of dumb moments: on the run Cruise getting back into the police HQ through a 'back door', the computer system quite happily to admit him. Cruise disappearing down a plug hole with the psychic woman which somehow allows them to escape from the building - how? And so on. Spielberg had a great opportunity here to produce a dark, intelligent and classy piece of work. But what we get is forgettable fluff.