Minority Report

Following the mixed reviews of AI: Artificial Intelligence, director Steven Spielberg submerges himself once more in dystopian sci-fi.

Minority Report is a futuristic adventure from the pen of Philip K Dick, who was also the inspiration behind the

ground-breaking Blade Runner, which starred Harrison Ford as a replicant-hunting cop.

This time round, Tom Cruise stars as Detective John Anderton, a member of the Pre-Crime Division 50 years hence in Washington DC, which uses psychic technology to identify, arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crimes.

Three gifted youngsters, known as Pre-cogs - Agatha (Samantha Morton), Arthur (Michael Dickman) and Dashiell (Matthew Dickman) - foresee each crime and alert Pre-Crime to the perpetrator.

When the system fingers Anderton for the brutal slaying of a man he has never met, the cop goes on the run, with arch-rival Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) in hot pursuit.

Anderton's boss, director Burgess (Max von Sydow), and his wife Lara (Kathryn Morris), aid him in his bid for freedom, but Witwer is tenacious in his quest for justice.

Minority Report is breathtaking in its scope and vision: Spielberg orchestrates the set pieces with brio, delivering one thrill after the next.

From an adrenaline-pumping chase sequence through a car manufacturing plant, to an unbearably tense encounter with robotic spiders, Minority Report keeps you on the edge of your seat for more than two hours.

The special effects and art direction are also astounding.

Janusz Kaminski's colour-bleached cinematography creates a stunning vision of the future, in which computers track and control people's every movement.

The combination of Spielberg and Cruise's pulling power cannot fail to ensure healthy returns at the box office

Cruise delivers a strong and compelling central turn as a fugitive determined to clear his name, and Farrell cements his status with a robust supporting turn. Morton's star continues to rise with her quirky supporting performance and Max von Sydow is imposing as ever as the head of Pre-Crime, who believes Anderton is innocent.

The combination of Spielberg and Cruise's pulling power cannot fail to ensure healthy returns at the box office for Minority Report and they are justified.

Welcome to the future - prepare to be dazzled.

There is some swearing and violence but no sex.

As our rating system cannot award half-stars, it gets four out of five but a Cruise fan, which I'm not after seeing such pseudo-erotic nonsense as Eyes Wide Shut, would probably give it the full monty of five.

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