Minority Report refers to a document that may or may not exist within the movie. The running time of this movie is one hour and forty minutes.
That the movie is directed by Steven Spielberg, itself say it all. Spielberg, the Godfather of Blockbusters, making us think, and think hard, in this movie.
Ever think about what the world would be like in 2054? Neither do I, but the writer of this screenplay, Philip Dick did. I’ve never read the book, so I can’t compare the movie to the book.
Can you imagine walking into a store and having a TV screen type ad, call out your name? Asking you how you liked your most recent purchase of - jeans? Viewing home movies floating about the room in 3D? How about newspapers with instantaneous news, complete with moving pictures and images? If there was a bad guy lose they were looking for, you would KNOW if he were sitting next to you.
John Anderton (Tom Cruise) delivers a stunning performance as the head pre crime director. He is both a pretty boy although age is creeping up on him, and a top gun still.
Agatha, the head pre-cog (Samantha Morton), is a gifted actress, acting somewhat like a zombie under the influence of drugs to maximize her potential as a psychic, to coming out of her drug induced stupor, to acting as a sensitive normal person, giving a beautiful monologue along the way.
Kathryn Morris plays John Anderton’s wife, Lara. She provides a believable wife, and is crucial to the movie, yet I don’t anticipate any Oscars on her mantel for this movie.
Actors Colin Farrell who plays Detective Ed Witwer, and Max von Sydow who plays Director Burgess give the movie a bit of a twist.
The special effects in this movie were exemplary. Cars moved down the roadway both vertically as well as horizontally, traveling sideways instead of traditionally head on. Metallic daddy long leg spiders would comb the city looking for suspects through the use of iris scans. There was one gory scene that looked realistic, although I’ve never seen the real thing. The special effects looked three generations more sophisticated. There was very little, if any, cartoony look to them.
I thought the set-up of the first 15 minutes was a bit boring, but after that I was able to settle down and enjoy the film.
There is pseudonudity, perhaps some rough language here and there, but nothing that really stood out to offend me.
There were a few scenes where I audibly gasped, some scenes reminiscent of what you might see in a Hitchcock film. (Bring your digitalis.) In fact, some of the plot twists and red herrings reminded me of Hitchcock’s work as well. There was a little comic relief as the spiders made their rounds, checking irises for suspects.
I will not reveal anything more of the plot. Else you will lose the ’expectancy’ part of this movie. I urge you to watch this sci-fi and enjoy the thrill for yourself.