Minority Report

It's 2054, and thanks to the Department of Precrime there hasn't been a murder in the city in six years. Precognitives are able to see murders before they happen, so precrime agents are able to prevent them.

Tom Cruise plays detective John Anderton, in charge of a division of agents. He is driven by the death of his son, Sean, by murder. This led to his divorce and a drug habit which he has yet to shake off. An investigation into the Department of Precrime is taking place, ahead of a public vote on the experiment. If they get the vote Precrime will go nationwide, and if they lose it will be shut down. But the system is perfect, so how could they lose?

There are three precognitives, who have the visions on which the system relies. What if they are wrong sometimes? Anderton probes deeper, and finds that the brightest precognitive very occasionally disagrees with the other two. These "minority reports" are being hushed up and records of them are erased.

This sets things up for Anderton to be accused himself. "You can't hide - get ready to run." And he does run, employing inventive and sometimes gruesome ways of escaping capture. His flight takes us on a guided tour of the future, covering genetics, drugs, virtual reality, iris scans, and intrusive personalised adverts. Convinced of his innocence, John resolves to discover who set him up. Why would he kill Leo Crow, who he had never met?

Minority Report is based on a short story by Phillip K Dick, but it's neither short nor simple. There are false endings and unexpected events.The plot twists and turns and refuses to pan out neatly, keeping the audience guessing until the end. If this film has a fault at all it's that it isn't as visually exciting as many recent sci-fi blockbusters. However if you want to be entertained by something more substantial than attractive views, this is the movie to go and see.