Tom Cruise fights the future in ‘Minority Report,’ twenty years later

Tom Cruise is back in the headlines following megahit Top Gun: Maverick and it has got us excited to revisit some of his hit films over his forty year career. 

Previously we looked at 1983’s Risky Business and 1992’s A Few Good Men. But now we’re jumping forward another ten years. 

2002 was graced with two Cruise character’s for the ages. The first, as a future cop in sci-fi thriller Minority Report and more importantly as the actor for fictional Austin Powers in Austin Powers in: Goldmember.

However, after much consideration we’ve decided to look at Minority Report. Being that friend who knows about all the movies, the fact that I had never seen this film till recently is something I’ve had to keep hidden. But no more! 

The film is rightfully directed by Steven Spielberg and is based on the 1956 short story from Phillip K. Dick. I say rightfully, as it takes an auteur like Spielberg to create something so high concept and still have such a clear, specific and creative vision. 

In the year 2054, murder is a thing of the past. With the introduction of Pre-Crime, cops use Precogs that allows them to see impending murders and prevent them before they even take place. One of these cops is the troubled and reclusive Chief John Anderton as played by Cruise. 

Through uninitiated Daniel Witner, we are introduced to this so-called Utopia and all its detailed and elaborate concepts. However, when the Precogs have a vision of Anderton committing a murder, Anderton believes this to be impossibe and seeks out the minority report. A report that could prove of more than one possible future. With his own team against him, he uses his extensive knowledge of the system to sneak around them. 

Alongside Tom Cruise in this cognitive thriller is Colin Farrell as Danny Witner, Samantha Morton as Agatha, Max Von Sydow as Director Lamar Burgess, Neal McDonough as Fletcher and Kathryn Morris as Lara Clarke. 

“Can you see??” repeats the haunting Agatha, hinting at the secrets hidden within her premonitions. 

It’s hard to talk about this film without alluding to the twists and turns that happen regularly throughout the story. But I will say that it keeps you constantly on your toes as whenever you think it’s clear what the mission is, a new revelation takes it another direction. 

The various tech that we witness in the world while Anderton is on the run are some of the best sci-fi designs to date. Spielberg’s future has vertical freeways, robot spiders, jetpacks, holograms and more. Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s these iconic ideas that mark the film’s place in sci-fi history. 

Regardless, it is the strong story and characters that make this movie. It would have been so easy to let the film’s magic be an emphasis on the futuristic CGI landscape, but it would have been lessened for it. 

The emerging computer technologies of the 2000’s were very appealing to the big Hollywood studios (and still very much is!). But, it is films like Star Wars: Attack of the Clones from the same year that are an unfortunate example of how the CGI spectacle won’t compensate for a lack of story and depth.

Check out the trailer for ‘Minority Report’

To say Minority Report holds up is a severe understatement and I feel an absolute fool for taking twenty years to get around to it. 

No matter your taste, its complex mysterious narrative will engage the most novice of sci-fi fans and is bound to have you drawing comparisons to more recent films that have tried to further contemplate the ideas around pre-crime and pre-punishment. 

Following Minority, Tom Cruise goes on another hot streak with The Last Samurai (2003), War of the Worlds (2005) and Mission: Impossible 3 (2006).

The film can currently be streamed now on Binge. 

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