This is the first (and last, so far) union of Steven Spielberg and Philip K. Dick…so it begs the question…how does Spielberg match up against Ridley Scott and Paul Verhoeven? The answer is…very well! Scott went for the more slow-paced, meditative adaption, Verhoeven went for the action-packed and ultraviolent adaptation…and Spielberg hovers somewhere in between. Of course, there’s no ultraviolence here, as it’s a summer blockbuster…and being a summer blockbuster, Minority Report seems confined by delivering action set-pieces and philosophical musings about justice and morality.
It’s not an easy task, is it? Tom Cruise does fine as the main character, but just like Arnie in Total Recall, you can’t escape the fact that it’s Tom Cruise, running about doing Tom Cruise-esque things. Total Recall dove in head-first with the absurdity of having Arnie as the leading man in a philosophical story (by making it ultraviolent and full of one liners). Tom Cruise can’t help being Tom Cruise, regardless of his acting quality. Still, the story is strong enough and the philosophical musings profound enough to deliver an exciting thriller that delivers on the action set pieces.
However, my major gripe about Minority Report is that it’s about twenty minutes too long. By the two hour mark, you feel that the credits should be rolling…but there’s another twenty minutes left!
Hammy’s Rating: 3/5
Memorable Scene
Anderton and Leo Crow
Memorable Quote
‘Science has stolen most of our miracles’
Related Reviews
Click here for my Quick Review of Total Recall (1990)
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