Minority Report (2002)

Pre-Crime and Punishment

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Minority Report on DVD.

Despite its moldy story twists, this Steven Spielberg spectacular ranks as the best thing he's done since the Indiana Jones films; fantasy is far better suited to him than those weepy message movies. This time he adapts his displaced father obsession to an extremely dark milieu, and it fits like a leather glove. Tom Cruise stars as a futuristic pre-crime cop who arrests murderers before they've committed the murder, thanks to three precog mutants. But his life falls apart when he finds that he's been accused of murder himself. Based on a Philip K. Dick story, Spielberg films the movie in shiny metallic white with plenty of gleefully gruesome set pieces, such as a scene in which Cruise gets his eyes replaced by a black-market surgeon. Max von Sydow, Lois Smith, Tim Blake Nelson and Peter Stormare offer fine support, but Colin Farrell is particularly good, fleshing out his character with a big city street-fighter feel, and Samantha Morton is miraculous as the runaway precog, using her every emotional fiber to communicate her anxiety. The double-disc set comes with lots of extras, mostly mini-docs, but no commentary track.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Tim Blake Nelson, Lois Smith, Peter Stormare
Written by: Scott Frank, Jon Cohen, based on a story by Philip K. Dick
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for violence, brief language, some sexuality and drug content
Running Time: 146 minutes
Date: December 17, 2002