| James Chappell's review It's not that every Spielberg movie is an event – Spielberg himself is an event. One of the greatest visionaries of our time has created here a near perfect fusion of fantasy and drama, two genres he has, up till now failed to successfully meld. In "A.I.", his first concept laden fusion, the result was an uneven but fascinating mess – a hundred minutes of cold Kubrickian analysis that took an uncomfortable turn to Spielberg sentimentality. The whole being less than the sum of the parts, it was enough to justify a cautious approach to "Minority Report", the daring and auspicious movie Spielberg seems to have spent an eternity waiting for. What’s more is that it's adapted from work by Phillip K. Dick, an author whose past big screen translations have veered from the brilliant ("Blade Runner") to the good ("Total Recall") to the downright awful ("Impostor"). The brilliant premise goes like this – in the not too distant future homicide is a thing of the past, the reason being the introduction of psychics or pre-cogs into the judicial system. These wonders of science form the basis of the Department of Justice's Pre-crime division who harvest their abilities – namely an uncanny knack of being able to predict homicides before they occur. The division, headed by John Anderton utilise the predictions to designate the time and place of the relative homicide. This enables Anderton's crack pre-crime squad to intercept would-be assailants the second they are about to kill, doing away with the need to prove whether the crime was about to be committed. The pre-cogs themselves have already determined whether the attempt to kill was fuelled by passion or whether it was planned. Anderton believes the system to be perfect (he is motivated by the abduction and murder of his child), at least until a pre-cog predicts him to kill a man he has never seen before. Soon on the run, he begins to doubt the system and sets out to prove his innocence. Whilst spectacle is not what "Minority Report" is about, it certainly is its forte. As a visionary Spielberg excels himself by filling the screen with a dark and foreboding vision of the future, one that falls somewhere between Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" and Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner". We witness a teeming metropolis with gargantuan skyscrapers, futuristic highways (horizontal and vertical!) and vehicles, and product placement so clever and in-your-face it would make both Disney and MacDonald's blush. In one scene Anderton enters a mall, and because all individuals are encoded with retinal scans, Anderton is scanned upon entry and all billboards, TV's and even cereal packets personalise their advertisements to him. Even with such gob-smacking imagery on the screen, it never takes a front seat to plot and character development. Structurally the film may be uneven, with the first half focusing on Anderton's relentless fugitive on the run dilemma and the latter on exposition. As soon as he hits the streets the film puts the pedal to the metal for a good half hour, hitting the viewer with a relentless barrage of superb effects and edge of your seat thrills. The terrific jet pack scene the trailer thrives on is followed by another thrilling scene. Anderton, in an attempt to evade capture leaps from vehicle to vehicle as they ascend at breakneck speed down a vertical highway! Then the hysteria level drops, and we're in film noir territory – one where palms sweat and the brain kicks into gear. Pursued by Colin Farrell's Federal Detective, a man out to bring down pre-crime as a morally flawed practice, and guided from the shadows by the pre-crime founder played by Max Von Sydow, Anderton begins to doubt both the system and the morality behind it – such questions centre around the Minority Report, a well kept secret that concerning conflicts in the visions between the three pre-cogs. To say any more would spoil both the mood and the fun, suffice to say that the trail leads to break-ins, a sickening line in optical surgery, an invasion of mechanical spiders (!) and the question of whether it is indeed moral to harvest psychics in captivity for the greater good (the utilitarian concept). The only real flaw is that in his eagerness to both tie up loose ends and to surprise, Spielberg resembles a child with stickle bricks – whilst some ends fit together, it just doesn't look or feel right. Such a criticism however has less meaning when one considers that it has little bearing on the moral questions at hand. Performance wise the movie delivers, with Cruise's tortured performance resulting in a humane and sympathetic character (more importantly it leaves that shit eating grin of his where it belongs – in the past). New blood Colin Farrell ("Tigerland") continues a run of great performances as the feisty, idealistic investigator out to capture Anderton, serving up both physical presence and determination in equal measure. Although Max Von Sydow plays the part his role's a relatively minor one; one that avoids scenery chewing and makes room for the real star – Samantha Morton's Agatha. Morton is nothing short of a revelation, especially when she leaves the pre-cog tank and enters the outside world. Haunted by the proximity of the public and their thought, she perfectly conveys the utter sense of fright and confusion towards those around her. If she doesn't get an Oscar for this I'll gladly eat my shorts. Everything, including John William's wildly varied score, combines
to make "Minority Report" more than a mere welcome diversion.
Action or not, the film-noir blends seamlessly with the fantasy,
and the moral questions perfectly with exposition. Even if the build
up dwarfs the ending, the film is still evidence of a master craftsman
at the top of his game. What's more the moral issues involved will
throw fuel on countless after dinner discussions, and undoubtedly
prompt the question – why can't the rest of Hollywood make
films like this? |