In the future murders can be foreseen and the suspects arrested before the crime is committed. In the run up to a public vote to making the use of this 'pre-crime' technology more widespread the system predicts that John Anderton, it's leading detective, will murder a man he has never met in three days. Fearing he has been set up Anderton goes on the run to find out the truth.
Tom Cruise is perfect in the lead role which bears many similarities to Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt, trying to clear his name from the organisation he works in. The real strength of the performance is not in the agile stunt work that Cruise did personally (but since it was all done in front of blue screens that's not exactly going to be dangerous) but in fleshing out the broken soul of the man who has turned to drugs following the kidnapping and loss of his son. The wild and unpredictable energy that always lingers behind Cruise's eyes fits perfectly with the festering rage of the man who wants to find someone to blame.
The production department have had a field day putting together the world of 2054, however not all of it is successful. The Georgian and Edwardian housing styles blended with futuristic high rise tower blocks look amazing but often the special effects are too obvious and lack the realism of the CGI work in Attack Of The Clones. The film also features some of the most blatant product placement since Back To The Future 2 and justifies this by the idea that they are displaying futuristic technology so we won't mind. However you don't expect to see a Jedi walking into Gap to get a new outfit and for good reason.
Minority Report is a film of many styles, almost to the extent that it comes across as a compendium of great film moments (technically known as a Brian De Palma movie, I believe). However whilst it is all very clever to throw in endless references to Stanley Kubrick, Blade Runner and The Fugitive the effect becomes distracting and gimmicky in what is supposed to be a serious film. Even more disruptive are the crass attempts at toilet humour that would seem more at home in The Goonies and an overbearing sentimentality added to appeal to the ET audience.
Much has been made of the films links to AI, the film Spielberg took over from the late Stanley Kubrick. Despite aping the great man's style in some ways the main link to the earlier film is an unnecessary feel good ending which not only wraps up the plot but puts a sparkly bow on it as well. Spielberg's desperate need to tag a feel good factor onto everything he has done since Duel and The Sugarland Express effectively undermines the film by suffocating the emotional empathy the viewer had built up for the troubled characters. Indeed you begin to feel that if Spielberg had directed Titanic he would have added a coda where the ship would have floated back to the surface with everyone aboard still alive. But the most successful director in Hollywood is hardly likely to change his style this late into his career.
In the end Minority Report plays to the galleries and the trusted formula book too often and ends up closer to Total Recall than to Blade Runner. The films two and a half hour running time is merely an indicator of the amount of schmaltz and cheap gags thrown in to ease the makers fears that audiences would find the story too boring or downbeat. They shouldn't have worried, the core of Minority Report is an engrossing thriller of the highest order, but all the dead weight drags it down. Here's hoping that a leaner and meaner directors cut will follow on DVD.