Minority Report **** (2002, Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton) – Classic Movie Review 484

Tom Cruise teams up with director Steven Spielberg in 2002 to play a ‘precognitive’ cop of the future, Detective John Anderton, who can predict murders and arrest the killers before they act. But then he’s accused of being the next killer and must run for his life to solve the riddle.

Spielberg concocts a superb-looking movie, with an intelligent, thought-provoking yarn based on a much admired short story by Philip K Dick. But at 145 minutes long, it sometimes drags like crazy and even the concept is hard to swallow as explained here. The screenplay by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen is quite polished but needs a bit of further honing and pruning.

Yet Cruise is on fine form as the star and there’s quality acting from co-stars Max von Sydow (as Director Lamar Burgess) and Colin Farrell (Detective Danny Witwer). There are some flashy bursts of action throughout, and the world of 2054 is convincingly set up in a richly textured movie that tries hard to be Blade Runner 20 years on (but is of course, as always, fighting a losing battle).

Production designer Alex McDowell’s sets and Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography are flawlessly impeccable and John Williams comes up with one of his most striking scores. The polish on this movie is astounding.

Spielberg opined: ‘Directing Harry Potter instead would have been a business decision, not a challenge.’

Tom Cruise teamed up with director Steven Spielberg again in 2005 to remake War of the Worlds.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 484

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