Minority Report
Tom Cruise stars in this outstanding piece of work by legendary director Steven Spielberg. After A.I. debuted last year, I had my doubts going into this one. After all, A.I. had Stanley Kubrick behind it while this one had a guy named Dick. (Philip Dick wrote the original short story.) Spielberg basically managed to ruin A.I. but luckily he does not do the same here. Cruise stars as John Anderton (probably renamed from Anderson to avoid the calls of Mr. Anderson in a Matrix-like Agent voice) who runs the Pre-Crime unit of the District of Columbia. Using the minds of three pre-cogs, they use them to predict future murders. As a result, there hasn't been a murder since its inception. Soon enough, with an upcoming election to turn it nationwide and a federal attorney played by Colin Farrell breathing down his neck looking for flaws in the system to add on to the pressure, the newest crime (#1109) involves Anderton himself killing Leo Crow, a man he's never heard of. Now he's a man on the run because everybody runs. No longer can he trust anyone and as a result, takes it upon himself to find out what the heck is going on, including tracking down a minority report, a recording as it is seen through the mind of the one-pre-cog who sees things a bit differently than the other two.

This is one riveting movie. Even at two and a half hours, it did not seem long enough. It starts out with a bang with crime #1108 and continues its lively pace all the way through its chases and twists and turns. Its addition of humor in the middle act makes for a nice departure to the depressing scenes we've been watching. There were strong performances throughout including Cruise and Samantha Morton as Agatha, the lead pre-cog. Two plot questions: How much time passes between the conlcusion of the first crime and the discovery of the pre-crime of John Anderton? Apparently, it's enough time for Colin Farrell's Danny Witwer to grow a moustache and beard. And when Anderton roams around the Pre-crime complex looking for clues, why is he allowed to? You would think after he's been charged with a crime, they would revoke his privileges inside the complex but no. They even let his ex-wife in later through the same means. For a place set 50 years in the future, I guess security protocols don't exist. But these are very minor questions to a very exciting film. 4 stars (With a 4 star average, it becomes the new champion of Star Search!)