2000s Cyberpunk Action Thriller On Paramount+ Adapts Legendary Sci-Fi Author’s Bleak Future

By Robert Scucci
| Published 39 seconds ago

Having been on a bit of a “determinism versus free will” kind of kick, I thought it was high time to rewatch 2002’s Minority Report on Paramount+ after tracking down and watching a copy of Run Lola Run sometime last week. Since spring has finally sprung, I’ll admit that both titles have motivated me to step up my running game because Run Lola Run’s Franka Potente knows how to get her steps in, and Tom Cruise, if I had to guess, lives on a treadmill whenever he’s not in active production for any of his big-budget blockbusters.

Aside from finally giving me the push I needed to start training for a half-marathon, Minority Reportlike most Philip K. Dick adaptations, offers a startling glimpse at a bleak future in which a government program with seemingly good intentions quickly becomes corrupted as a means to control the masses to do the state’s bidding.

If that’s not enough to get your motor going, I’ll also use this opportunity to gently remind you that Steven Spielberg was firing on all cylinders in the form of creating a world full of futuristic technology that not only looked amazing in 2002, but still holds up to this day.

The Concept Of Premature Incarceration

While the Philip K. Dick novella of the same name directly inspired the events that play out in Minority Reportthe film expands upon its lore substantially. Steven Spielberg himself has gone on record saying that the novella doesn’t have a second or third act, and that the movie itself pushes its themes into new territory in order for it to be a suitable feature-length adaptation of the short work of fiction.

Centering on the precogs – a group of catatonic yet clairvoyant triplets working for the Precrime division of the federal government – and their innate gift to predict violent crimes before they happen, Minority Report explores how government can clean up the streets by prematurely arresting the people who the precogs suggest will commit murder at a future date.

Like most government agencies depicted in sci-fi thrillers, something nefarious is happening behind closed doors, and though there have been proven results in the form of no violent crimes being committed becuase of the precog’s due diligence, something else is at play when Tom Cruise’s Chief John Anderton becomes the primary person of interest in an upcoming murder investigation for a crime that he has yet to commit in Minority Report.

John Anderton On The Lam

Functioning as the Precrime program’s primary ambassador and commanding officer, John Anderton champions the cause because he has a personal stake in the program succeeding. Six years prior to the events depicted in Minority ReportJohn’s child was abducted, and his body was never recovered, causing his marriage to fall apart, and for him to self-medicate with a popular street drug known as neuroin to cope with his depression.

In the year 2054, all premeditated murders have ceased thanks to the Precrime program, and John spends most of his time using predictions from the precogs to mitigate any upcoming crimes of passion that have a very short window of time to rectify. When John discovers that the precogs have a vision of him murdering Leo Crow, a man who at this point in Minority Report is a stranger to John, he has reason to believe that he’s being set up, and finds himself on the run because he’s now wanted for committing a murder that hasn’t happened yet.

Tearing through heavily surveilled streets, John, who has reason to believe that Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer (Colin Farrell) is somehow responsible for his situation because he wants to audit the Precrime division for any potential errors before it becomes a national program, has to simultaneously lay low while also getting to the bottom of the conspiracy he’s caught in the middle of because he needs to prove his innocence.

Learning of the titular minority report, which is a discrepancy found between the three precogs’ visions that could exonerate him, John has to change his appearance, and find the missing file that may or may not have been archived as a means to preserve the alleged infallibility of the precogs, who are revealed to sometimes get things wrong, thus compromising the integrity of the entire program.

Minority Report’s Moral Dilemma

Minority Report takes a deterministic approach in raising the question on whether it’s ethical to incarcerate people for committing future crimes. On one hand, if the precogs are always right, then the Precrime program has succeeded in ensuring that nobody will ever have their family torn apart again. Conversely, if people do, in fact, have some semblance of free will, then the precogs’ predictions may not be 100 percent accurate if the suspected killer has a moment of clarity, preventing them from committing the crime in the first place if they’re only given a chance to see for themselves.

John Anderton, who, in his mind, would never succumb to any violent urges, functions as a control to the experiment because he’s by all means a by-the-books commanding officer who believes in the program, and has never been put in a position that would suggest he’s capable of committing a crime of passion like the one he’s being accused of.

Is John a future murderer who hasn’t yet experienced the mental trigger that will push him over the edge? Or is he in control of his own destiny, which will allow him to confront Leo Crow through nonviolent means, proving that there are cracks in the system that he’s devoted his life to building from the ground up? Though it’s a no-win situation for John Anderton because he’ll either be convicted on premurder charges, or undo all of the work in the process of proving his innocence, Minority Report leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to explore the ethics of a system that was designed for good before it ultimately becomes corrupted by the powers that be.

As of this writing, you can stream Minority Report with an active Paramount+ subscription.

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