Minority Report

Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, Minority Report follows 2054 cop John Anderton (Tom Cruise) as he’s forced to go on the run after he’s accused of a future murder by a controversial crime-predicting technology. It’s an almost inherently engrossing premise that’s employed to erratic yet rewarding effect by Steven Spielberg, as the filmmaker, armed with Scott Frank and Jon Cohen’s screenplay, delivers a striking thriller that certainly boasts its fair share of agreeable, compelling attributes – with, in particular, the predictably commanding star turn by Cruise, as well as the top-notch efforts of his various costars, going a long way towards smoothing over the narrative’s bumps and lulls. (The absurdly overlong running time of 145 minutes ensures that the picture is rarely, if ever, the streamlined endeavor one might’ve anticipated, to be sure.) And although the picture admittedly does take its time to really get going, Minority Report progresses into a second act suffused with several larger-than-life and thoroughly engrossing set-pieces that cumulatively compensate for its various missteps (including, and especially, Janusz KamiƄski’s distractingly and often shockingly unpleasant visuals) – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as a good-but-not-great endeavor that generally feels as though it should be much, much better.

*** out of ****

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