Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report (2002)

10/10

Starring

Tom Cruise

Colin Farrell

Samantha Morton

Max Von Sydow

Directed by Steven Spielberg

The movie brings up the debate of free will. Is free will truly free will if my future actions are known beforehand? The Bible tells us that God knows the end from the beginning and that He handcrafted us. So, does that mean we have free will, or are we just a piece of a big puzzle?

Minority Report answers that question by saying that even if the future is known, the path can still be changed; it’s just a matter of determination. Set 50 years into the future, this classic is about a future where criminals are arrested before they commit the crime.

The story itself was written by Philip K. Dick, and it was supposed to be a sequel to the 1990 Dick adaptation of Total Recall, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. When the sequel didn’t materialize, novelist Jon Cohen was hired in 1997 to adapt the story for a potential film version. Cruise got a hold of the script and passed it on to Spielberg, hoping they would make a movie together from it. Spielberg liked the script but decided it needed improvement, so Cohen did another draft. Cruise and Spielberg then decided to go in together to make the movie, both agreeing not to take any money upfront but to share a percentage of the gross profit.

Boasting high-tech graphics and CGI, this futuristic film looked certain — like, if God willing, we are all here in the next 50 years, the movie looked like what it might be.

The movie’s plot centers on the lead character, John Anderton. In April 2054, Captain John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is chief of the Washington, D.C. PreCrime police force. Thanks to their proficiency and effectiveness — and the intense use of future visions generated by three "precogs" (mutated humans with precognitive abilities) — the city of Washington has been murder-free for six years. The moment a murder is thought of, the precogs send a visual message, and the culprit is picked up before the crime is committed.

Things change for Anderton when, while the system is being audited by Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell), the precogs predict that Anderton will murder a man named Leo Crow in 36 hours.

Anderton is surprised because he knows no Leo Crow. Chaos breaks loose, and Anderton is on the run, stealing one of the precogs to help clear his name.

Listed as one of the best films of 2002, this financial success is one of the best surveillance and futuristic films out there — a movie to watch again and again.