Minority Report

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Written by: Scott Frank & Jon Cohen
Stars: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max Von Sydow

"The Minority Report" is a 1956 science fiction novella by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in Fantastic Universe. In a future society, three mutants foresee all crime before it occurs. Plugged into a great machine, these "precogs" allow a division of the police called Precrime to arrest suspects before they can commit any actual crimes. When the head of Precrime, John Anderton, is himself predicted to murder a man whom he has never met, Anderton is convinced a great conspiracy is afoot.

The original story reflects many of Philip K. Dick's personal Cold War anxieties, particularly questioning the relationship between authoritarianism and individual autonomy. Like many stories dealing with knowledge of future events, "The Minority Report" questions the existence of free will. The title refers to the dissenting opinion of one of the precogs.

Dick's story was first optioned by producer and writer Gary Goldman in 1992. He created the initial script for the film with Ron Shusett and Robert Goethals (uncredited). It was supposed to be a sequel to the 1990 Dick adaptation Total Recall, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Novelist Jon Cohen was hired in 1997 to adapt the story for a potential film version that would have been directed by Dutch filmmaker Jan de Bont. Meanwhile, Cruise and Spielberg, who met and became friends on the set of Cruise's film Risky Business in 1983, had been looking to collaborate for ten years. Spielberg was set to direct Cruise in Rain Man, but left to make Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Cruise read Cohen's script, and passed it onto Spielberg, who felt it needed some work. Spielberg was not directly involved in the writing of the script, though he was allowed to decide whether the picture's screenplay was ready to be filmed. When Cohen submitted an acceptable revision, he called Cruise and said, "Yeah, I'll do this version of the script." In that version, Witwer creates a false disk which shows Anderton killing him. When Anderton sees the clip, his belief in the infallibility of the precogs' visions convinces him it is true, therefore the precogs have a vision of him killing Witwer. At the end, Anderton shoots Witwer and one of the brother precogs finishes him off, because Witwer had slain his twin. Spielberg was attracted to the story because as both a mystery and a movie set 50 years in the future, it allowed him to do "a blending of genres" which intrigued him.

With a creative director like Steven Spielberg at the helm of this sci-fi thriller, I knew I would enjoy this gem. The film has an intriguing futuristic story, and I like the ideas that are presented in this film. The film reminded me of another Spielberg movie, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The special effects are amazing in the film, and the visuals really captures the futuristic setting (flying cars and flying elevators). The writing by Frank & Cohen is great as well, and its not too predictable. There are plenty of twists throughout the story. The cast here is terrific as well. Tom Cruise is great in the role of John Anderton, a man racing against the clock to prevent himself from killing someone. Colin Farrell is really good here as well, portraying a Justice Department auditor. Other highlights from the acting include Samantha Morton as Agatha, one of the PreCogs, and Max Von Sydow as the director of the Precrime department. The film had a great ending too, so overall I recommend this film.

8/10