Minority Report

Steven Spielberg , 2002 (148 mins, Cert. 12A)

In the future, criminals are caught before the crimes they commit thanks to time travel, but one of the officers in the special unit is accused of one such crime and sets out to prove his innocence.
(Odeon Publicity)

Not time travel, but precognition, is used to foresee murders in this excellent adaptation of a short story by Philip K. Dick. Fast, furious and loud it may be but, while succeeding in being a riveting thriller, the film doesn't lose sight of Dick's preoccupation with the difficulty of perceiving reality. Tom Cruise is great as the PreCrime cop on the run, the plot twists and turns excitingly, and the American society of 2053 is convincingly visualised. All-in-all this was a super film that holds the attention so fully, and runs at such a pace, that it seems nowhere near its true length.
(Steve Fagg)

Seen: Thursday, 5th September, 2002 (Odeon West End)