Almost everything about "Minority Report" is first class. Cruise is great. The futuristic look is as amazing as any other film I've ever seen. The cars and the way they glide around the city is nothing short of awesome. The computers take center stage here and the way video files are transferred and stored on plates of glass is neat. The tech is gorgeous and Cruise reviewing evidence at Pre-Crime headquarters is like a conductor fronting a symphony.

Spielberg's direction is not as Spielberg-y as usual. I'm surprised by some of the violence and gore. Is this not one of the bloodiest Spielberg non-War movies ever? And the look of this is amazing. It's grainy to an extreme. It glows and blurs. I saw this when it was first released in theaters and revisiting it again now...at the moment I can't think of any other film that looks quite like it.

I came to like Colin Farrell's character Witwer during my latest watch. His transformation is satisfying and it's great to see him go toe-to-toe with Tom Cruise. Cruise is an amazing action movie actor. The guy is physical but not in the Schwarzenegger or Stallone sense. He's a little fellow but his awkward athleticism is always convincing. He seems just a little out of control, close to falling or slipping or losing a fight. His characters always have a lucky streak when getting into a tussle or a tight spot. Max von Sydow is also excellent, as usual. By the way, if eye trauma makes you squirm, avoid this movie.

There are a few drawbacks. I've always found the story hard to follow. I'd say that watching it this time made more sense than any time before. Director Burgess's (von Sydow) motivations stood out for me better than during any of my other viewings. And finally, I fully understand the role of the Ann Lively character. I also could do without some of the attempts at humor that Spielberg throws in. The jetpack chase is silly and falls flat. The scene with the "spiders" and the way they scan the eyes of two people having sex and a guy on the toilet...dumb.

Overall though, this is an excellent film. It looks totally unique and its vision of the future is one of the most amazing in all of cinema.

Minority Report presents us with sufficient world-building and rises important theme of predestination without feeling like it's being shoved down through our throat: the future of government surveillance everywhere, AI-driven cities, and implant-dependent urbanites. I think it does this well by utilizing them as a part of plot point and showing the grand scenery as a way to do exposition. The film is also able to make believable characters: cops aren't always action men--they're just people doing their job daily job--and villains are also human, who might make cruel, heartless decision, but has the motivation to stand on what they believe and, in the end, to survive.

The story manages to engage from the start through the end. A number of films tackle the story clumsily after the huge plot reveal, but Minority Report is able to continue on raising the issue of predestination without resorting to typical action cliche. The final scene is a bit shaky, but it does its job to convey the theme and maintain believable character very well.

However there are noticeable downside from the film. The soundtrack is what I felt the most: it sounds too adventure-ish in a couple of scenes--too Star Wars/Indiana Jones-esque. Not quite fitting with the tone of the film. The brief action scenes in the film, though necessary in the plot, also appear a bit clumsy and not very well done. As for the plot itself, there's a certain point in the film where it becomes very predictable, though it still delivers well.

Really good movie. This is one of those movies where you really gotta pay attention to it to understand it fully. Great storyline too. I'm sure our world will eventually end up this way. Hope not though!

So - can you be arrested for a crime that you haven't actually committed yet? I suppose that is conspiracy - but this cleverly crafted crime drama questions even the morality of that stance. Tom Cruise is a policeman in the "pre-crime" unit who uses information from three people who are able to see into the future, to arrest the spiralling crime rates by intercepting the perpetrators on the cusp of their criminality. Murderers, rapists, bank robbers - you name it, and this has a profound effect on the crime rate. All looks plain sailing until Cruise "Anderton" becomes embroiled in a potential killing of his own, and his erstwhile colleagues - not least Colin Farrell ("Witwer") and Max von Sydow ("Director Burgess') are on his trail using his own techniques against him. Steven Spielberg has concocted a plot that, though complex, is relatively easy to follow with plenty of action and thriller elements that do exactly what they are supposed to. The ending is maybe just a bit disappointing - far too tidy for my liking; but Cruise, Farrell and von Sydow combine well to generate a fair degree of menace and suspense to keep it interesting. The CGI hasn't really stood the test of time so well and I hope Bulgari (amongst others) got their money's worth - I wouldn't rush out and buy one, but I would watch the film again.

Spielberg does Tech-Noir!

The year is 2054 and the murder rate in Washington is zero, the reason? Three Pre-Cognitives whose combined abilities witness murders before they actually occur. Apparently faultless, it's then something of a surprise to Pre-Crime chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise) when the Pre-Cogs predict he is to murder a man named Leo Crow. Forced to go on the run, and haunted by a family tragedy, Anderton must evade the system he so perfectly executed himself. Can he find a flaw? Or is he actually about to commit a murder?

Everybody Runs! That was the tag line that accompanied the explosive trailer for Steven Spielberg's, Tom Cruise starer, Minority Report. This marketing tool indicated that the great bearded one had adapted from the Phillip K Dick short story and created an action monster? He hadn't, he had in fact created something far far better than popcorn fodder.

Minority Report was the next project for Spielberg following the equally dark and intriguing AI: Artificial Intelligence, both films serving to note that Spielberg was capable of thought provoking science fiction outside of the crowd pleasers that many critics love to decry. In fact, it's arguable that Spielberg may have hit his creative peak with Minority Report, for the messages and crawling dystopian bleakness on show paint a picture not so much as a future far away in our lives, but of one we live in now. Big thematic points of reference dot themselves throughout the piece. Such as the changing of eye balls, or that in these post 9/11 years we yearn, and always will, to be safer.

Here in this bleached shadowy world, a world of metallic tones and visual stings (ace cinematographer Janusz Kaminski on duty), we are safe under Pre-Crime, yet still it's a world without soul, it has no heart, it's almost as if inhuman in itself, suggesting that the World's problems are not easily vanquished by technology - a total sacrifice of the World's inhabitant's souls. Spielberg of course is well served by the supreme professionals he has at his disposal, he has also managed to garner a great performance from Tom Cruise, something that critic and fan favourite directors have not managed to do previously. Believable grief, action work as strong as ever, it is however with his ability to imbue a tortured film noir protagonist where Cruise excels the most.

Alongside Cruise and operating with great impact, are Samantha Morton as Pre-Cog Agatha, and Max Von Sydow, who adds that touch of experienced know how needed for his particularly important character. the odd casting choice appeared to be Colin Farrell as the meddling, almost vindictive Danny Witwer, but he plays well off of Cruise, this even if he veers dangerously close to comic book villainy at times (check out a holy smoke Batman scene). What action there is is first rate, from a jet back pack pursuit, to car jumping heroics, the sequences are crafted with Spielberg's deft eye for an action sequence. While the sick sticks (yes you read right) metal spiders and a brilliant Peter Stormare cameo should hopefully have you squirming and grinning in equal measure.

Which brings us to the finale, an ending that may not be a complete surprise (yet it still doesn't cop-out in context to Anderton's tragedy), but things are rounded off in true classic noir tradition, closing down a thinking man's tech-noir. Superb. 9/10