Minority Report
In 2054 Washington DC, murder is no longer an issue as the police have access to ‘precogs’, three semi humans who live in a hibernation tank – and have ‘visions’ of murder before it occurs, and are able to see both the victim’s name, and perpetrators name., allowing the police to stop them and arrest them for ‘pre-murder’.
When the Chief of the ‘pre-crime’ division, John Anderton, discovers he is the latest ‘perpetrator’ – he goes on the run to try to clear his name, and discover who exactly it is that he is going to kill… in 36 hours – and takes the lead pre-cog out of hibernation!
Direction
Great direction from Steven Spielberg – whose eclectic way of film-making is on point here. He gives so many great techniques such as unique camera angles, some fun long takes (like the Gods view spyder scene). I loved the colour grading, and had almost a black and white effect that I felt was an allegory for the ethics of pre-crime.
Cast/Characters
This was Tom Cruise’s first outing in a Spielberg movie, and it feels like Spielberg worked around Cruise’s action star status. There are many moments in the film in which he does his usual leading man variables, such as running, and his use of humour, and it pays off.
Colin Farrell, plays what is “essentially” the antagonist for the first two thirds of the film. He is the bureaucrat brought in to potentially take over, and shut down the pre crime unit. His overall arc is well acted especially given Farrell is Irish and pulls off a flawless American accent. He gets a good ‘red herring’ narrative arc.
Legendary screen giant Max Von Sydow plays Cruise’s boss, Lamar. He gets quite a bit to do, and is great in every scene he is in.
Screenplay/Setting/Themes
I liked the 2054 depiction of how life could be, considering it is still 30 years away today, and over 50 when the film was made.
Some parts of ‘present’ life remains, like newspapers etc – but other parts are very futuristic – like self driving cars, live adverts on cereal cartons. Some depictions were foreign when the film was made, or very new technology, such as flash drives too, which are very futuristic.
The ethics of ‘pre-crime’ is one of the main themes, in that those who are arrested for the ‘future murders’ are put in a state of hyper-sleep and the suggestion of trials/courts are never mentioned. For American audiences this is a clear abandonment of some of their amendment rights.
It is almost as if the colour grading of black/white – is an allegory of the black/white ethics behind ‘pre-crime’, and keeping the ‘pre-cogs’ in the state of hibernation – if they are able to survive the world
Overall
Spielberg’s frequent collaborator John Williams gives an sound score, but it was a little forgettable – and other parts of the film (performances, visuals, narrative) felt like they took center stage.
An entertaining film that makes you think about both the logistics and the ethics if this technology occurred.
4/5
If you’re able to, please “buy me a coffee”