2353. Minority Report (2002)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow

Director: Steven Spielberg

Running Time: 145 mins

Minority Report is an American film about a near future where police are able to arrest murderers before the crimes are committed, and the events that unfold when one officer finds that he is accused of a future murder.

Everybody knows that Steven Spielberg is an expert in creating wondrous lands and telling thoroughly entertaining stories no matter what he sets his talents to, and that’s just the case once again with Minority Report. With an exciting plot complemented by an awesome depiction of the future, as well as a whole host of excellent performances, Minority Report grabs you for almost every moment of its two and a half hours, with the only sticking point coming in Spielberg’s seeming unwillingness to let things get as dark as the story often suggests.

However, we’ll start off with what’s best about Minority Report, and that’s undoubtedly how entertaining the depiction of the future presented here is. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, Steven Spielberg brings a fascinating and unique near future to life in thrilling fashion, with an immense range of exciting technologies on display, created through the use of brilliant – and still entirely solid – visual effects.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi, then Minority Report has everything you want to see, while also creating an entertaining and exciting world through combining the often dark elements of the likes of Blade Runner with the brighter space-age optimism that you’d often see in Star Trek.

As well as that, the film has a hugely entertaining plot that keeps you on edge from beginning to end. Although I can’t say it’s the world’s most unpredictable thriller, it moves along at a great pace, complete with a fantastic sense of threat and stakes throughout, completely engrossing you as we see a cop go on the run from his own seemingly unstoppable unit.

Combine that with some of the mind-bending elements of the nature of precrime, arresting murderers before the act is committed, and it all makes for a thoroughly engrossing and entertaining watch.

Of course, Tom Cruise is well-versed in this sort of plot, with his experience in the Mission: Impossible franchise coming in handy as we see him on the run from his own organisation once again. However, contrary to his blockbuster charisma in Mission: Impossible, he adapts his performance brilliantly to the tone here, lending a powerful sense of desparation and fear to his character as he tries to evade capture by absolutely any means possible.

So, Minority Report is overall a thoroughly entertaining sci-fi blockbuster with a fascinating and gripping plot throughout, complete with brilliant visuals and a strong and powerful central performance from Tom Cruise.

However, the one issue that I do have with the film comes from Spielberg’s direction, in the fact that it’s not quite as dark as the story really deserves. Of course, if the movie were as dark and psychotic as Blade Runner or Brazil, then it wouldn’t have that immensely entertaining appeal, however the brief moments where the story does descend to some really dark depths are undoubtedly the stand-out scenes of the whole film, suggesting to me that there is a lot more to come from this story if things go a bit darker.

Instead, Spielberg does occasionally let the film follow a more generic and light-hearted blockbuster approach, with a little too much use of humour at unsuitable moments that really offset the eerier atmosphere that the bleak visuals and dark story naturally create, which I found a rather frustrating point throughout.

Overall, though Minority Report is an undoubtedly entertaining movie, with great sci-fi thrills from beginning to end, and a striking depiction of a fascinating near future. It’s not quite perfect, and it definitely misses out on getting the full depth and darkness out of the story at hand, but on the whole, it’s two and a half hours of excellent blockbuster entertainment, and that’s why I’m giving it a 7.6.