What can I say, when you start playing with time and possible futures you have to have a bullet proof plot, otherwise things get messy. Throw in a conspiracy and people's heads start to burst.
The movie is about a future world where crime is prevented before it happens. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is in charge of the pre-crime unit in future Washington DC. He believes the system that uses three psychic kids is flawless and he goes about his business like a true believer until one day he is accused of a future crime and his confidence in the system is shattered. A chase ensues and Anderton tries to prove his innocence.
This is an effective futuristic action movie. If that's all the movie tried to be it would do quite well, but it tries to be so much more. It tries to wrestle with questions about free will, identity and existence. In this light, the complex action/chase movie becomes an overwhelming burden. The action and the plot move so fast and develop into such a tangled web that when it is time to leave we aren't thinking about the big questions but the simple, what the hell just happened questions.
It's too bad. Given how close the future world is too reality it would be good to engage people in dialogue on the questions this movie tries to raise and I think Spielberg is trying to do that. However, he knows that the only way to get the attention of the mindless masses is through an action flick. In pandering to the crowd his message gets lost.
There is one other aspect that must be mentioned. The incredible pictures and imaginative setting. That is, the world Spielberg creates with his camera is is absolutely astonishing. He knows how to work a camera! It is worth seeing just for this.
Now, simply, I expected it to be able to deal with the big questions. Though my expectations were high, they were not met. When that happens the scale demands that it get no more than two stars.
On the official Chris' Choice scale Minority Report gets two stars.
**
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