Subject: Review: Minority Report (2002)

From: Bob Bloom <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2002 19:23:55 -0000

MINORITY REPORT (2002) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Tom Cruise, Colin
Farrell,  Samantha Morton, Max Von Sydow, Lois Smith, Peter Sormare, Tim
Blake Nelson, Steve Harris and Kathryn Morris. Screenplay by Scott Frank
and Jon Cohen. Based on a short story by Phillip K. Dick. Music by John
Williams. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Rated PG-13. Running time:
approx 2 hours, 20 minutes.

 The year is 2054, and Washington D.C. has not experienced a murder in
six years because of a pilot program called Pre-Crime in which, through
the use of “Pre-Cogs,” killings are stopped before they occur and the
guilty are punished before they can take a life.

 Now, a national referendum is scheduled to determine whether to expand
the program to the entire country. And while those who run the project,
including Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise), believe Pre-Crime is
infallible, others are sniffing around seeking flaws.

 This is the starting point for Minority Report, director Steven
Spielberg’s second consecutive foray into the realm of science fiction.

 Based on a story by science-fiction writer Phillip K. Dick, Minority
Report is a lively combination of s-f, whodunit, chase movie and film
noir.

 The main thrust of the story is Anderton being transformed from hunter
to hunted. The “pre-cogs,” — a trio of individuals with enhanced psychic
powers whose visions of killings have never been in error — determine
that Anderton is going to commit murder.

 To keep from being arrested and put away from a crime he knows he will
not commit, Anderton goes on the run. He wants to find out who set him
up and why, plus discover how an infallible system has become fallible.

 In the process, Anderton’s faith in the system in which he so strongly
believes is severely shaken.

 Minority Report is a slam-bang, seat-of-your-pants outing offering a
future that is not too alien, yet also feels a bit retro. It also
previews a world that could be a civil libertarian’s worst nightmare.
Retinal scanners are everywhere — on subways and at the mall — so the
police can be aware of most everyone’s every move.

 Director Steven Spielberg, along with screenwriters Scott Frank and Jon
Cohen, offer such visual delights as vertical highways attached to
high-rise buildings, as well as such noirish staples as a nightmarish
slum district in which eyeless drug dealers push the latest feel-good
narcotic.

 Which brings us back to Anderton, a man carrying the guilt of a tragic
loss. As portrayed by Cruise, he is a man obsessed and haunted; wanting
to stop crime, yet unable to solve the one involving those closest to
his heart. It is one of Cruise’s strongest performances as he creates an
anguished individual on the run — literally — from what he helped create
— and figuratively — from his past.

 Cruise is backed by a strong supporting cast including Colin Farrell as
Danny Witwer, the Justice Department official seeking flaws in the
Pre-Crime system so he can take it over when — and if — it goes
national; Samantha Morton as Agatha, the main “Pre-Cog” who helps
Anderton; Max Von Sydow as Lamar Burgess, Anderton’s mentor and the
father of Pre-Crime; and Lois Smith as Iris, whose research paved the
way for the system and who sets Anderton’s feet on the path of
discovery. Also contributing a quirky performance is Tim Blake Nelson as
the organ-playing Gideon, the overseer of the Department of Containment
where would-be murders are incarcerated.

 Spielberg has created a nice sense of paranoia with Minority Report, as
Iris warns Anderton, “Don’t trust anyone,” as we are led down the
twisted path of who did what to whom and why.

 The movie also offers a sly wink at our consumer future as when
customers enter a Gap, a holographic clerk — after a retinal scan — asks
how they enjoyed their previous purchase, and naming that item.

 Be warned, though, a gross-out section dealing with eye transplants may
make you a bit queasy.
Frequent Spielberg collaborator John Williams contributes a pulsing
score that matches the film's accelerated pace.

 At about two hours and 20 minutes, Minority Report seems to rush by
with very little letup. It combines action and intelligence and at times
will have you on the edge of your seats.

 Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette,
IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email-masked] or at
[email-masked]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at
www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette.
 Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 730008
X-RT-TitleID: 1113879
X-RT-SourceID: 872
X-RT-AuthorID: 1363
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4