Minority Report (2002)

Originally Reviewed 

Tuesday August 8, 2006

It’s 2054 in Washington, DC and thanks to the people at Precrime there hasn’t been a murder in the city for six years. Tom Cruise plays detective John Anderton, an emotionally disturbed cop who is haunted by the memories of the kidnapping and murder of his young son six years ago. John’s main goal in joining Precrime was the hope that he could prevent similar events from happening again, so that others would not be forced to suffer the same emotional torture.

The purpose of Precrime is to arrest murders prior to the crime being committed. This is done with the help of three humans who were born with the ability to foresee the future, due to drugs which were consumed by their parents before they were born. It is their “gift”, or for them their curse, which provides them the ability to foresee crimes of murder before they occur. These visions of the future are then transferred to the Precrime detectives where it is their duty to seek out the future murderers before they kill.

The Precrime system appears to be flawless, and with it on the brink of branching out nationwide everything seems to be going well, that is until federal agent Danny Witwer, played by Colin Farrell, is sent in to find a flaw within the system. Anderton and Witwer immediately begin to butt heads, as John feels threatened with Witwer's in-depth investigations and threats against him and the system. Although through Witwer's investigation, John discovers a loose thread within the system and when he pulls it he suddenly finds himself as the next target of a precrime. John now begins to believe Precrime may not be as perfect as he had once thought, now he must figure out who the man is he is going to kill, and who has set him up.

Minority Report is a very entertaining and interesting science fiction film, which shares many qualities of that could compared it to a futuristic version of The Fugitive. It's definitely one of Steven Spielberg’s more entertaining films and I would go as far to say one of Tom Cruise’s best films, if not his best. I’m not a big fan of Tom Cruise especially following some of his ridiculous antics in the media, and apparent mental issues, but I have to say I really enjoyed this film and his portrayal of the character. Colin Farrell also does a good job in one of his first blockbuster films, and is probably responsible for boosting his career to a more mainstream actor.

Minority Report has everything going for it, an interesting and well written story, great casting, great acting and outstanding action and suspense. It's not the best film of all-time but it's definitely a one of the top 10 films directed by Spielberg. Well worth the watch and definitely has high re-watch-ability even after you know everything that happens, and if you pay close enough attention you can catch a glimpse of Cameron Diaz on the metro (see picture above). 

9/10