Imagine a future where all crime had been stoped and the would be criminals were locked away. Such a world is brilliantly brought to life by director Steven Spielberg in his $103 million dollar take on a Philip K. Dick short story. The film stars Tom Cruise as Detective John Anderton of the "pre-crime" division. He leads a group of cops who figure out and stop crimes before they are committed. There has not been a singe murder in 6 years. This is Tom's first venture into Science Fiction and hopefully not his last.
The detectives are aided by "pre-cogs", three humans who can see future murders. These pre-cogs are hooked up to a computer and emersed in a water tank. They see exactly what the murderer will see and even comes up with the name. If they could only come up with the address then things would be a lot simpler. Of course then there would be no movie.
The film starts by off with the team tracking a man who is going to stab his wife and her boyfriend in action. The pre-cogs come up with his name and give many images but it's tough to tell exactly where the crime is to take place. Thats the kicker that makes these opening sequences so much fun. There could have been a movie made out of this opening story. Witnessing the whole thing is Danny Witmer a government official who is investing the division for possible flaws in the system. He will play a vital role in the rest of the movie.
This leads us to the main plot in which Cruise discover's he is to committ the next murder in exactly 36 hours. He is suposedly to shoot a man he has never heard of. Cruise quickly flees the precinct in a journey to prove his innocence. His facinating journey leads him to the creater of pre-cime who has venemous plants and to a man who can give you new eyes. These scenes are quite different for Spielberg who is braving new teritory as he did in his previous film A.I.
Spielberg proves once again he's the greatest of all Sci-Fi directors with this fast paced and extremely intelligent picture. The film is a combination of science fiction and film noir with grainy visuals and constantly moving cameras. The special effects perfectly blend into the story as not to take your attention away from the story. In a lot of cases the effects greatly enhance the story. Take for example a scene where robot spiders are used to search an apartment complex for Cruise. The intricate way the spiders locate and identifty every living thing in the building is a real highlight.
The screenplay is by Scott Frank and is one of the most inteligent Science Ficiton scripts ever written. But it's Speilberg's genious that makes this an instant classic.