Minority Report 2002
Just saw it tonight so I’m not sure I’ve thought it all the way through. The plot of the movie is fairly simple: a man falsely accused of murder must do an investigation while on the run to prove his innocence. There is a lot of background they have to present so it takes a while for things to really get moving.
Though this is a good movie that presents some really neat ideas, there are huge flaws. For one thing the big action sequences you see in the previews featuring jet packs and vertical freeways have almost nothing to do with the movie. Spielberg doesn’t do a good job of making this a slam-bang action movie. Nor is it a well-done chase/suspense movie like The Fugitive or even The Bourne Identity. While Bourne was an expertly executed movie with too little substance, this movie is not as well executed with an excess of substance. As pure sci-fi the movie looks a little too conventional, presenting some neat ideas but not fleshing out those ideas: they are just scenery, like how in the future you have to flail both arms rather than use a mouse to interface with a computer.
The acting is good. Tom Cruise plays pretty much a normal guy, not the testosterone-pumped action hero I expected nor his usual intense brat. But just about anyone could have played the part just as well and some might have brought some needed weariness to the role. The supporting cast is good but there isn’t enough character development to get to know anyone. There is just too much background to explain, plus the mandatory and superfluous action sequences needed for the commercials.
So far it sounds like a lousy movie, but it isn’t. There is a lot of eye candy here, much like The Matrix. That alone makes it worth watching. The story is also good and that keeps it interesting. Ridley Scott took more chances with Bladerunner and I’d say that is a better movie. Spielberg’s future is mostly boring and sterile but sometimes just plain creepy (mutants soaking in milk and eyeballs being carried in ziplock bags). I think anyone already talking about Oscars for this is crazy, but it is certainly going to be one of the more intellectually satisfying movies of the summer.
I’ll give it a B.