"Minority Report" is a rare and welcome summer blockbuster that actually provides a story of some substance. Steven Spielberg rebounds nicely from the snore inducing "A.I." and crafts a stunning - although not quite perfect - vision of the future.
The year is 2054, and the Washington D.C. unit of "Pre-Crime" has a powerful system that can accurately predict future murders. After a thrilling opening scene that shows the Pre-Crime unit in action, the movie bogs down for awhile with some clunky exposition of how three human "pre-cognitives" can actually predict these killings.
The "Pre-cogs" are suspended in a pool of milky fluid, and their brains are hooked up to powerful computers so that law enforcement agents can see their nightmarish premonitions of future murders and use this information to thwart the slayings before they happen. Since the induction of the system there have been no murders in D.C. in six years. The system is perfect.
That is, until Justice Department agent Ed Witwer (Colin Farrel) begins investigating the efficacy of the system just before a vote on a national Pre-Crime referendum.
The day after Witwer demands to be let into the "Temple" to see the pre-cogs, there seems to be a glitch in this perfect system. John Anderton (Tom Cruise), the chief of Pre-Crime, is accused of the future murder of a man he has never met, Leo Crow.
At this point the movie finally picks up pace and gets interesting. Anderton sneaks out of the Pre-Crime facility and from then on the movie involves one visually pleasing and oftentimes intelligent chase sequence after another as Anderton tries to elude Witwer and his former fellow officers.
Anderton flees from one locale to another in a desperate search for anyone who might be able to help him clear his name. The co-creator of the pre-cog system, Bureau director Burgess (Max Von Sydow), offers Anderton protection, but no explanation as to how he can clear his name.
Anderton finally receives help from the other mysterious co-creator of the pre cog system,who informs Anderton that Agatha (Samantha Morton), the most gifted pre-cog, sometimes sees things the other two don't. These minority reports offer alternative visions of the future and are stored inside of Agatha herself.
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To clear his name, Anderton needs to break in to the Pre-Crime facility and download Agatha's thoughts in hopes of recovering the minority report that could clear his name.
Although Minority Report is a highly conceptual, very enjoyable movie, it does fall short in some aspects. The acting is very weak, especially from the supporting actors. It seems like Spielberg doesn't care if his bit parts - such as the prison guard - are painfully over the top. After awhile it grates on a viewer and you can't help but realize you're watching a bad actor happily trying to ruin a good movie.
The dizzying number of product placements also becomes a bit annoying after a while. Most of the spots are worked in cleverly and actually draw a laugh, but after awhile I felt like the movie was periodically being interrupted by commercial.
Some of the inventions seem outlandish for a future just 50 years away. Not only do some of them seem far-fetched, but they actually seem to be steps back, such as the computers that look really cool, but require a lot of flamboyant hand motions and the constant switching of unlabeled disks to operate them.
If you can look past some minor flaws, Minority Report is a very enjoyable and refreshing summer movie. It is a film with a high concept that dares to address some serious questions, and for the most part it hits its mark on most of them.
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