Minority Report is one of two Steven Spielberg films that are now available on 4K Ultra HD and in a Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD SteelBook.

What follows is my original review of the film from a few years ago:

Minority Report might take place some fifty years after the film was shot, but the film’s themes are still relevant almost twenty years later.

This movie marks the first collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. It raises provocative questions: what if we could know the future? And what if the person seeing it discovered they were about to commit a murder? Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, the film requires the audience to buy into the science early. Once you do, it’s easy to sit back and enjoy the ride. Even in 2020, the science depicted feels surprisingly believable.

There’s much to consider about the eye-dentification technology. Social media platforms already track our faces, and companies target us online via cookies. Philip K. Dick seems prophetic in his science-fiction vision. He also wrote Blade Runner. One of the film’s central themes is free will versus determinism. If we could see the future, could we change it? Minority Report explores this beautifully, asking whether foreknowledge frees or traps us.

The Department of PreCrime primarily focuses on preventing murders. The three pre-cognitives—two male twins and one female—see visions of the future, displayed on a large screen. They do not interact with the outside world. Agents in the department then work to arrest individuals based on these visions. This concept drives both the plot and the tension of the film, as the system’s reliability is constantly under scrutiny.

PreCrime Captain John Anderton (Tom Cruise) struggles after the disappearance of his son, Sean, and is separated from his wife, Lara (Kathryn Morris). Anderton’s life takes a drastic turn when he appears in a pre-cog vision just as DOJ agent Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) visits the agency. On the run, Anderton learns from PreCrime creator Dr. Iris Hineman (Lois Smith) that Agatha (Samantha Morton) sometimes sees alternate visions called “minority reports.” These conflicting visions are crucial to the film’s central mystery.

A central plot point involves Ann Lively (Jessica Harper), who is revealed to be Agatha’s mother. As Anderton investigates, he discovers he is being framed, while Witwer starts to question the system after studying the footage. However, the true manipulator, PreCrime’s founder Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow), has been covering up a murder. This layered conspiracy keeps audiences on edge until the climax.

While Minority Report features the usual sci-fi thrills, it also ventures into film noir territory. The film’s color palette contributes to this aesthetic. Spielberg described it as “the grittiest-looking entertainment movie I’ve ever done,” not counting Schindler’s List or Saving Private Ryan. The visual style underscores the tension and moral ambiguity central to the story.

John Williams’s score departs from his usual tonal work for Spielberg. Instead of familiar themes, the music heightens suspense, drawing inspiration from Bernard Herrmann’s legendary compositions. The score complements the thriller elements and reinforces the film’s darker, futuristic tone.

Spielberg often tells stories set in the past, frequently around World War II. Here, he jumps fifty years into the future. The film’s release after the Patriot Act suggests Spielberg may have been reflecting on surveillance and government oversight. This context adds depth to the story, making its ethical questions even more compelling.

The major monuments in Washington, D.C., remain standing, and Spielberg’s attention to set design is evident. The precog set is a major centerpiece, showcasing physical design over CGI. Spielberg explained:

“I guess a day will come when it’ll be cheaper to do it all digitally. I hope that day never comes because the craft and the art of design—it helps the actors so much to come into a room that is the room that we’re photographing. It gives them an environment to bounce off of. It gives the actors a world to act in.”

Spielberg also stops Cruise from doing some dangerous stunts a few times. Much like Harrison Ford, Cruise is the type to do his own stunts. Whatever works, I suppose!

If there’s the smallest chance that they get it wrong, an innocent person ends up getting arrested. Because of this, I would not be able to support such a PreCrime concept as envisioned in the film. There’s a lot to be said about the current criminal justice system. We know that there are flaws. We can see it in the system today. Minority Report leaves much to debate about the film’s themes and the rightness or wrongness.

Bonus Features

• The Future According to Steven Spielberg
• Inside The World of Precrime
• Phillip K. Dick, Steven Spielberg and Minority Report
• Minority Report: Future Realized
• Minority Report: Props of the Future
• Highlights from Minority Report: From the Set
• Minority Report: Commercials of the Future
• Previz Sequences
• From Story to Screen
• Deconstructing Minority Report
• The Stunts of Minority Report
• ILM and Minority Report
• Final Report
• Production Concepts
• Storyboard Sequences
• Trailers

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
SCREENWRITERS: Scott Frank and Jon Cohen
CAST: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, and Max von Sydow with Lois Smith, Peter Stormare, Tim Blake Nelson, Steve Harris, Kathryn Morris

DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Studios released Minority Report in theaters on June 21, 2002.

Please subscribe to The Solzy Report and visit Dugout Dirt.