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MINORITY REPORT Send This Review to a Friend
There's exciting inspiration in Steven Spielberg's trip into the future in "Minority Report," set in Washington, D.C. in 2054, which is far more audacious than the retread of the "Star Wars" phenomenon unveiled this summer by George Lucas. Even the special effects are more thrilling, for they are tied to a more absorbing story. You have to hand it to Spielberg. He's out there trying to create something new, and this one even has political relevance to the present.
Of course, whatever the time period there is still the need for plot. While much of the screenplay written by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen based on the short story by Philip K. Dick is gripping, especially when given the Spielberg visual touch, it still veers into cliché when it comes to its action hero and its mystery-solving. It doesn't take much time to realize as soon as one meets Tom Cruise as a detective doing the hunting in efforts to stop crime before it occurs that he'll become the hunted. Likewise, I knew who the villain would be the moment I saw him. I didn't watch those old films with Otto Kruger for nothing.
A Pre-Crime unit in the Justice Department has been established based on a group of Pre-Cogs who have the ability (eventually explained) to see into the future and detect a crime destined to be committed. By tapping into their minds the cops can race to prevent murders and the experiment has eliminated murder in Washington. All of this is shown with a dazzling array of high-tech special effects and computer and video hocus-pocus. Spielberg and company really go to town, giving us futuristic cars, roadways and jet-propelled cops flying around, the latter reminiscent of what Francois Truffaut did in "Fahrenheit 451," only more spectacular.
Tom Cruise is sufficiently stoic, determined and agile as Chief John Anderton, the guy in charge who is convinced he is being set-up to look like a future killer. Max Von Sydow is authoritative and smooth as the honcho behind the Pre-Cog phenomenon. The fascinating looking Samantha Morton is eerie as Agatha, the key Pre-Gog whose mind must be read for the ultimate showdown. Kathryn Morris plays Lara, Anderton's estranged wife who has had to face the disappearance of their young son six years ago when he was under Anderton's care at a public swimming pool, a loss that has been gnawing at Anderton. Colin Farrell adds a sinister ingredient as the FBI official who leads the Attorney General's charge to wrest control over the Pre-Crime program away from Anderton.
That's the film's most interesting plot turn, but it is sidetracked in favor of more conventional ploys. However, "Minority Report" does raise important questions very pertinent to present issues. How much liberty, if any, should be sacrificed in the name of safety? We see cops crashing into people's homes, identification by eyeballs (one of the film's harrowing scenes is an operation to replace eyes for identity concealment), and the overall power of government to manipulate lives without anything as cumbersome as due process. Given the current controversy over civil liberties assaults by Attorney General Ashcroft and the need to predict and prevent future terrorist plots, "Minority Report" is chillingly on target. I would have found an intensified development of that theme much more intriguing than the ultimate plot emphasis.
Still, even allowing for excessive plot convolutions and the cliches, Steven Spielberg's latest is far better than other recent action films. The visuals alone provide way-out fun for those who enjoy the futuristic. I particularly liked the high tech creepy-crawlers unleashed to hone in on a fugitive and make eye identifications--call it eye-d-ing. The film is a visual knockout, with praise due visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar of Industrial Light & Magic and all the others who had a hand in the snazzy effects. A 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks Pictures release.
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