7.4
Summary
John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.
Cast
Tom Cruise
Chief John Anderton [Pre-Crime]
Samantha Morton
Agatha [Pre-Cog Chamber]
Max von Sydow
Director Lamar Burgess [Pre-Crime]
Colin Farrell
Agent Danny Witwer [FBI]
Kathryn Morris
Lara Clarke
Steve Harris
Jad [Pre-Crime]
Neal McDonough
Fletcher [Pre-Crime]
Patrick Kilpatrick
Knott [Pre-Crime]
Jessica Capshaw
Evanna [Pre-Crime]
Daniel London
Wally the Caretaker [Pre-Cog Chamber]
Lois Smith
Dr. Iris Hineman [The Greenhouse]
Tim Blake Nelson
Gideon [Department of Containment]
Peter Stormare
Dr. Solomon Eddie [Operating Room]
Caroline Lagerfelt
Greta van Eyck [Operating Room]
Jason Antoon
Rufus Riley at Cyber Parlor [The Mall]
Mike Binder
Leo Crow
Arye Gross
Howard Marks
Ashley Crow
Sarah Marks
Joel Gretsch
Donald Doobin
Anna Maria Horsford
Casey [Pre-Crime]
Sarah Simmons
Lamar Burgess' Secretary [Pre-Crime]
George D. Wallace
Chief Justice Pollard [Pre-Crime Witness]
Ann Ryerson
Dr. Katherine James [Pre-Crime Witness]
Tyler Patrick Jones
Older Sean Anderton
Dominic Scott Kay
Younger Sean Anderton
Jessica Harper
Anne Lively
Bertell Lawrence
John Doe
Richard Coca
Pre-Crime Cop
Keith Campbell
Pre-Crime Cop
Kirk B.R. Woller
Pre-Crime Cop
Frank Grillo
Pre-Crime Cop
Klea Scott
Pre-Crime Cop
Eugene Osment
Jad's Technician [Pre-Crime]
James Henderson
Office Worker [Pre-Crime]
Vené L. Arcoraci
Office Worker [Pre-Crime]
Erica Ford
Employee [Pre-Crime]
Keith Flippen
Tour Guide [Pre-Crime]
Nathan Taylor
Kid Tourist [Pre-Crime]
Radmar Agana Jao
Technician [Pre-Crime]
Karina Logue
Technician [Pre-Crime]
Elizabeth Anne Smith
Technician [Pre-Crime]
Victoria Garcia-Kelleher
Technician [Pre-Crime]
Jim Rash
Technician [Pre-Crime]
Stephen Ramsey
Jucket - Agent #1 [FBI]
Tom Choi
Paymen - Agent #2 [FBI]
Tom Whitenight
Price - Agent #3 [FBI]
William Morts
Foley - Agent #4 [FBI]
Michael Dickman
Arthur [Pre-Cog Chamber]
Matthew Dickman
Dashiell [Pre-Cog Chamber]
William Mesnik
Cyber Parlor Customer [The Mall]
Franklin Scott
Conceited Customer [The Mall]
Severin Wunderman
Skiing Customer [The Mall]
Max Trumpower
Homeless Person [The Mall]
Allie Raye
Hamburger Mom [The Chase]
Rocael Leiva
Hamburger Dad [The Chase]
Nicholas Edwin Barb
Homework Boy [The Chase]
Catfish Bates
Tenement Snitch [The Chase]
Danny Parker-Lopes
Man [Tenement Bldg.]
Vanessa Cedotal
Woman [Tenement Bldg.]
Katy Boyer
Mother [Tenement Bldg.]
Adrianna Kamosa
Child [Tenement Bldg.]
Kari Gordon
Child [Tenement Bldg.]
Elizabeth Kamosa
Child [Tenement Bldg.]
Raquel Gordon
Child [Tenement Bldg.]
Laurel Kamosa
Child [Tenement Bldg.]
Fiona Hale
Old Woman
Pamela Roberts
Violent Wife [Tenement Bldg.]
Clement Blake
Husband [Tenement Bldg.]
Jerry Perchesky
Grandfather [Tenement Bldg.]
Victor Raider-Wexler
Attorney General Nash [The Ballroom]
Nancy Linehan Charles
Celeste Burgess [The Ballroom]
Nadia Axakowsky
Reporter [The Ballroom]
Dude Walker
Reporter [The Ballroom]
Tony Hill
Reporter [The Ballroom]
Drakeel Burns
Reporter [The Ballroom]
William Mapother
Hotel Clerk
Morgan Hasson
Paperboy
Andrew Sandler
Marks' Son
Bonnie Morgan
Contortionist
Kathi Copeland
Murder Bystander
Ana Maria Quintana
Murder Bystander
Lucille M. Oliver
Murder Bystander
Gene Wheeler
Murder Bystander
Tonya Ivey
Gap Girl
David Stifel
Lycon - Seller of Black Inhalers
Kurt Sinclair
Adulation #1
Rebecca Ritz
Adulation #2
Beverly Morgan
Adulation #3
John Bennett
Adulation #4
Maureen Dunn
Adulation #5
Ron Ulstad
Adulation #6
Blake Bashoff
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
David Doty
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Gina Gallego
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
David Hornsby
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Anne Judson-Yager
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Meredith Monroe
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Benita Krista Nall
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Shannon O'Hurley
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Jorge-Luis Pallo
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Elizabeth Payne
Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer
Ethan Sherman
Revo Sunglass Model [Commercial]
Jarah Mariano
AMEX Polynesian Woman [Commercial]
Miles Dinsmoor
Guinness Man [Commercial]
Vanessa Asbert
Bulgari Model [Commercial]
Paul Thomas Anderson
Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Cameron Crowe
Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Cameron Diaz
Bus Passenger (uncredited)
Crew
Director
Steven Spielberg
Screenplay
Scott Frank
Screenplay
Jon Cohen
Short Story
Philip K. Dick
Reviews
John Chard
April 13, 2016
9
Spielberg does Tech-Noir!
The year is 2054 and the murder rate in Washington is zero, the reason? Three Pre-Cognitives (each named after a literary great) 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 starrer, 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 standard 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, the latter adding 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, where it closes down a thinking man's tech-noir. Superb. 9/10
Media
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$102,000,000.00
Revenue:
$358,372,926.00
Keywords
Recommendations
War of the Worlds
Vanilla Sky
The Bourne Identity
Mission: Impossible
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Last Samurai
Collateral
TRON: Legacy
Austin Powers in Goldmember
The Terminal
Death Race
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The Adventures of Tintin
Phone Booth
Gattaca
Jaws
Sin City
Equilibrium
Total Recall
