Minority Report

June 24, 2002

Minority Report dropped into theaters this weekend, promising high tech thrills from a pretty decorated pedigree (Spielberg and Cruise, working from a short story from Philip K. Dick). The premise revolves around a pilot program for “precrime,” where cops can stop murders from being committed before they take place. On the verge from going national, the program starts to show it’s cracks, the big one being that their police chief (Cruise) looks like he’s about to murder a stranger in two days.

Once the movie gets going, it’s mostly about Cruise rushing headlong into his predetermined fate and the question becomes “Will he do it?” While Cruise runs from the police and tries to find proof of his innocence, the movie is a really smart, fun ride. The movie starts to sputter towards the end, when the narrative becomes more deliberate and less urgent. Still, it holds up much stronger than the standard summer fare and is definitely worth watching.

On a technical level, Spielberg builds a completely convincing world and the computer images are seamlessly integrated. The overlit, coler-desaturated look of the film seems to be a logical extension of much of the work Spielberg has done since the black and white Schindler’s List. It’s all very impressive stuff, and Minority Report never looks cheap or boring.

For a movie called Minority Report, I could have done with more actual minorities in the future, but that’s a minor quibble.

Posted in Moving Pictures