Culture
20 Sep 02

Minority Report

This is one of Spielberg's unashamed multiplex magnets - a taut thriller replete with dazzling car-chases and stunning set-pieces

Based on one of Phillip K. Dick’s later LSD psychosis inspired short stories, Steven Spielberg’s eagerly awaited Minority Report sees Tom Cruise as a fanatical cop in a futuristic society where religion and science make for the most twisted bed-fellows since Thornton and Jolie first got it on. Think martial law as imposed by Opus Dei and you’re almost there.

It’s 2054 in Washington DC, and the police are harnessing the collective ability of three psychics so that they can arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crime. The Cruiser is heading up this pre-crime unit, until he himself is accused of a future murder and finds himself with 36 hours to prove his innocence.

If you’re expecting another AI, this movie is unlikely to do it for you. This is one of Spielberg’s unashamed multiplex magnets – a taut thriller replete with dazzling car-chases and stunning set-pieces. For all the albeit gorgeous sci-fi apparel (the Tron inspired cars, the Bladerunner jaunts into the countryside, the La Jetee moment) this film is a futuristic Fugitive, but is thoroughly enjoyable on those terms.

Cruise is more impressive than he has been for several movies as an engaging, (slightly) darker version of his familiar everyman figure, while Farrell shines as the sinister sleazeball who would be Cruise’s nemesis.

One major word of caution however; Minority Report is marred by product placement levels obscene enough to have even the most ardent consumer capitalist retching into the nearest Louis Vuitton sick bucket. Entire scenes exist with no descernible purpose beyond placing Tom Cruise inside a branch of the Gap, (Quel surprise, they’re still flogging the same sweat-shop produced, over-priced khakis in the 2050s) and hardly a moment passes without a close-up of a BurgerKing branch or a Starbucks branded coffee cup.

Indeed, this movie is shameless enough to boast an actual ad-break replete with plugs for Lexus and any number of greedy, scuzzy multi-nationals. Movies with commercials? Now that’s a really chilling vision for the future.