The only thing that stops this film being a classic are the moments of gushing sentiment
Rating: 9/10
Running Time: 145 minutes
UK Certificate: 12
On DVD
I'm always wary of Spielberg films; AI, ET, there's just too much sentiment in everything he touches. He just doesn't seem to be able to distance himself from it.
And although it's cut to a minimum – it's still painfully present in Minority Report. The story tells that until the Precognitives came, the murder rate had reached unprecedented heights. The 'precogs' are androgynous creations that can literally see the exact moment of violent crimes. Armed with their ability to see the future, the precrime division stopped murders from happening. They could literally stop a crime before it happened.
John Anderton (Cruise) is a detective on the precrime division. He also lost his son and wife some years before. He happily solves crimes until one day, the Precogs predict a new murder, one caused by Anderton himself.
Obviously, this crime will happen and there's nothing he can do about it, so Anderton goes on a run from the law, while trying to find the man he will allegedly kill and work out who set him up.
The story is a good one; there are some genuinely creepy moments, but you can tell when the short story (from which the film was made) ends and where Spielberg's own interpretation begins.
In fact, the only thing that stops this film being a classic are the moments of gushing sentiment (which Cruise simply cannot portray to any believable degree) and the poor ending which seems to have been added on to make the film just that bit too long.
It's Got: A believable version of earth in 2050
It Needs: A better, shorter and more logical ending
DVD Extras An entire disk of extras, makings of, stills, outtakes, and lots more. DVD Extras Rating: 9/10
Summary
Just short of Genius. It loses nothing on the small screen. With dazzling special effects, some very creepy spider creatures and a great story, this makes Minority Report a welcome change from overly sentimental work that has recently been churned out by Spielberg.