Rent Minority Report on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Scott Frank and Jon Cohen (screenplay by), Philip K. Dick (based upon a short story by)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow, Neal McDonough, Tim Blake Nelson, Peter Stormare
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
In the future, a division of the police department has the technology to stop crimes before they take place using three 'PreCogs' who can forsee crime. The tables turn on one of the cops working within the unit when he's accused of a crime.
Verdict
This seems to have the goal of making sci-fi more mainstream. It's mostly a thriller and action movie with a paradox at the center of the plot. A cop is predicted to commit a crime, but will he? If he does the system works; if he doesn't everything he believes is upturned. In a futuristic world where eyes are everywhere, he must elude his fellow officers while trying to prove he's innocent of the crime he's yet to commit. This is a bit too mainstream. The action veers too generic while the sci-fi is shallow.
It depends.
Review
In the future crime is stopped before it happens. It's a neat concept, and officers still must race to stop crimes of passion. The first few scenes show us such a crime. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) leads the pre-crime division, a prototype in Washington D.C. that may be adapted across the country. D.C. hasn't had a single murder since the program started, but we did just see a crime stopped with mere seconds to spare. I find it difficult to believe they stop every single passion crime in the nick of time. The program is so successful that Witwer (Colin Farrell) is looking at launching the program country-wide.
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| Tom Cruise plays John Anderton |
Crimes are predicted by pre-cogs, three heavily drugged individuals that showed clairvoyant ability. Anderton also has some demons. He's an addict, still coping with his son's disappearance years ago. When a pre-cog grabs him and provides a cryptic clue, Anderton starts on a path that will unravel everything he believes. Pre-cogs are so sedated, it shouldn't be possible for one to be lucid enough and grab him. The cryptic clue leads to a missing file on an old case.
The pre-cogs predict Anderton will commit murder. What would push him to such an act? He refuses to believe he'd do such a thing, running away to prove his innocence. The head of the program is now being hunted. How will that affect the future of pre-crime? This is the crux of the plot. If the crime prediction unit is perfect John is a murderer. If he's not, the unit is flawed. Anderton will either confirm or undermine the unit he leads depending on the evidence he uncovers.
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| Colin Farrell plays Danny Witwer |
The plot is a bit too easy. Anderton easily tracks down the creator of the pre-cog system. She tells him that every so often the pre-cogs get it wrong, a minority report. Anderton resolves to find his minority report to prove his innocence.
This taps into a lot of sci-fi tropes. In this future you're tracked by you eyes. You even get ads catered to you. Cars are automated and information is displayed on clear screens you control by finger movements. It looks cool, but it also feels underdeveloped. The only way for John to prove he's innocent, and he's convinced he is, is to replace his eyes so he can't be tracked and can then traverse the city for evidence.
It's directed well and Spielberg manages to get maximum results from the drama and action. Some of the action can be a bit comical at times. Part of that is this movie was before the dark and gritty movement that would soon take over movies.
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| Max von Sydow, Tom Cruise play Lamar Burgess, John Anderton |
Undeterred by this perfect system, Anderton steals a pre-cog to extract the minority report he needs as proof. He has a much easier time avoiding the authorities with a clairvoyant. Despite trying to prove his innocence, everything John saw in the prediction is coming together. By trying to run he may be ensuring the future. A big part of this movie is whether you can change the future or is it set. We soon learn what could lead John to murder, but it's a setup. Who would set him up and risk undermining the pre-crime unit?
I love the questions this asks. Is the future set or is it malleable? If you can ensure the safety of a city is it justified to enslave clairvoyants? Is it permissible to kill one person in order to save thousands? The sci-fi setup is essential to generate these questions, but this world feels artificial. It's a coat of paint to make this world more interesting.
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