Can a crime truly be a crime if it never actually occurs?
Can free will overcome a foreseen future in order to prevent a crime?
And can Tom Cruise recover from the disaster that was “Vanilla Sky”?
These are the central questions in Hollywood heavyweight Steven Spielberg’s latest film “Minority Report.”
Spielberg may have been too excited manning the helm of Stanley Kubrick’s last creation, “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” as he seems to enjoy spending time in bleak visions of the future.
In “Minority Report,” the year is 2054 and murder has become a thing of the past. For six years, a special crime division known as Pre-Crime has prevented it with the help of a trio of seers, affectionately nicknamed “precogs.”
Hollywood boy-toy Tom Cruise is Detective John Anderton, one of the elite officers of this Pre-Crime unit. It’s his job to scan visions of the future to pinpoint locations of future murders, since the precogs have no solid information other than little multi-colored balls bearing the names of the killers and the victims.
Although this setup sounds a little far fetched, the film transcends this B-movie plot to spark with flashy fun.
For the first time in years, the precogs send out a brown ball, meaning the next murder will be premeditated – the more common crimes of passion, such as stabbing a cheating wife and her lover, merit a red ball. The twist comes when the name on the killer ball reads John Anderton.
Fulfilling the film’s cheesy tagline of “everybody runs,” Anderton takes off, desperate to prove his innocence before new cop on the block Ed Witwer (“Tigerland’s” Colin Farrell) and the rest of the Pre-Crime unit catch up with him.
In terms of Anderton’s daredevil stunts, it seems as though Spielberg caught a few too many showings of “The Matrix.”
In typical action style, the film really flies during the action sequences – most of which Tom Cruise insisted on doing himself.
In addition to the incredible stunts, the film’s religious undertones are only rivaled by Neo being the new coming of “the one.”
Some of the religious references are a bit more overt, with the room housing the precogs called “the temple,” which also lends itself to a discussion of the precogs true nature.
With their gifts – or their curse, depending on how one views their fate – the precogs are something a little more than human. Since they can change the course of human destiny, the precogs even begin to approach the level of deities.
Coming off his recent divorce, titan-like Cruise hasn’t quite lived up to his potential in the past few years. Following his Oscar snub for his risky role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia,” Cruise has flailed about, continuing to hope for another good role to land in his lap.
Well, he found it. Anderton is a wonderful blend of tough-guy action and sensitivity following the kidnapping of his son, Sean, and divorce from wife Lara. He is so realistic, one even feels sorry for Anderton early in the film, as he runs into a sidewalk dealer to buy some “clarity” to help him make it through the day.
Audiences will feel even worse for Anderton as he attempts to find his minority report, a variation occurring when one of precogs’ visions – most often those of most powerful Agatha (Samantha Morton) – doesn’t gel with the other two.
While Cruise may be the top guy in the film, the film’s best performance belongs to Morton. She doesn’t have as many lines of dialogue as anyone else – the precog caretaker claims they are completely unaware of their surroundings – but like Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob, her lines always have the most impact.
Morton, nominated in 2000 for her work opposite Sean Penn in “Sweet and Lowdown,” is one of Hollywood’s newest clan of up-and-coming actors on the cusp of breakout success. Boasting a Spielberg film on the resume may just be what shoves her over the edge.
However, Spielberg’s futuristic vision is not without a problem or two.
Two-thirds of the way through the film, as Cruise is finally starting to put everything together, “Minority Report” takes a tremendous turn and its tone completely changes, which could easily confuse and lose much of the audience.
Regardless, the film manages to live up to the hype surrounding the collaboration of Cruise and Spielberg and squeezes in the answer to the most important question raised by the film – yes, Cruise can.
Todd LaPlace is a junior in journalism. He can be reached for comments at [email protected].
