Minority Report, Steven Spielberg’s most exciting film since Jurassic Park (review)
To be seen again this Sunday on Arte, as part of an evening dedicated to Tom Cruise.
Tom Cruise is once again in the spotlight on Channel 7, with one of its American cinema classics followed by great documentary with subtitles Body and souloriginally broadcast in 2019.
What is Tom Cruise after? THE role of his life? Recognition from your peers? Eternal youth?
We will first find him lost in a futuristic universe inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dick. Agent of the “precrime” In Minority Report, he is responsible for stopping criminals before they act. One day, he has the unpleasant surprise of discovering his name on a screen. The computer is clear: in 36 hours, this ordinary man will have murdered a stranger. To thwart fate, he sets out in search of his future victim. His colleagues are then after him…
Breathtaking, the film is full of innovative creations. Steven Spielberg was keen to only show credible, albeit futuristic, inventions. A successful bet, and not just on an aesthetic level. When it was released, more than 20 years ago, the editorial staff gave it 3 stars. Minority Report and Tom Cruise appeared on the cover of Première (No. 307 – September 2002) for the occasion. Here is our review.
In his most exciting film since Jurassic ParkSteven Spielberg puts his virtuosity and considerable resources at the service of a panache of genres ranging from science fiction to thriller through whodunit (mystery detective film). The result is largely more satisfying than frustrating, even if the film’s flaws arise from its complexity. As in AI Artificial Intelligence, interest wanes until a disappointing resolution with its predictable and conventional twists and turns. It’s a bit like discovering a production engine under the hood of a luxury car. In a world where speed is limited, this must be taken as a minor weakness.
The plot, adapted from the book by Philip K. Dick, shows that pure science fiction from the 1950s is still perfectly relevant today. Not only does it give food for thought about the implications of an increasingly policed society, but the very notion of pre-crime finds a worrying echo in the preventive strike policy recently adopted by the USA.
Faithful to the spirit of Philip K. Dick, in whom the characters must torture their minds to understand and correct a distorted reality, Spielberg gets away with a complicated plot as well as possible but does not always avoid shortcomings. narrative trapdoors. We will forgive the laborious explanation scene in a greenhouse, given the multiple virtuoso sequences such as the invasion of a building by robot cops shot in sequence shot.
For the purposes of the film, a group of scientists was specially brought together to think about the likelihood of the future fifty years from now. The urban universe that they imagined took on an extremely coherent and detailed reality thanks to a team led by decorator Alex Mac Dowell (The Crow, Fight Club). Incidentally, advertising plays an important role in this description.
Spielberg has a very questionable attitude on this point, denouncing the invasion of brand placement in fiction, while exploiting it to the fullest in reality.
Tom Cruise dynamically embodies a character typically distressed by the loss of a son, adding to his CV one more collaboration with a prestigious director. At his side, the young Colin Farrell confirms the hopes placed in him since his discovery in Tigerland.
Tom Cruise – Top Gun (1986): “I always thought I was an actor playing a character who thinks he’s a star”
