Great Moments From Cinema - 18

Choices Over Destiny
Movie: Minority Report (Cruise Wagner, DreamWorks, 20th Century Fox; 2002)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenplay: Philip K. Dick (story) and Scott Frank & Jon Cohen
Major Cast: Tom Cruise, Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton

Film Synopsis: Cruise plays a cop in a futuristic society where arrests are made even before the crime is committed. When he foresees himself committing a murder, he goes on the run.

My Favorite Moment: Morton pleading with Cruise, “You still have a choice.”

Why I Like It: This is Spielberg doing what he does best: Taking a sci-fi story and telling it with great emotional depth coupled with spectacular visuals. It is a magnificent blend of special effects and noir. Plus, when you get Spielberg to infuse his gripping style wherein the audience holds their breath in suspense, you have the best film of 2002.

They year is 2054 and Americans believe they live in a so called “safe society” because there exists a pre-crime division, which prevents murders by apprehending people before they commit a crime. Headed by Sydow with Cruise as his trusted officer, they rely on 3 ‘precogs’ who are telepathic humans suspended inside a pool, and in deep hibernation. They provide the exact time of the crime along with brief visuals, thus giving Cruise and his colleagues a short timeframe in which to stop this act. The film opens with one such race against time which is executed brilliantly. There is also a fantastic sequence where Cruise waves his arms like a conductor in a concerto as he moves various video images around on a virtual display. In fact, the scene is set to a classical music piece, which makes it graceful while showcasing the techno savvy future. Some other scenes are equally astonishing including one where several mechanical spiders come inside a shabby apartment building looking for Cruise. Spielberg uses supreme skill in creating and maintaining suspense, especially when Cruise tries to hide inside a bathtub with the spider’s just inches away.

Cruise sees himself committing a murder of a total stranger and now he has to go on the run while trying to figure out why he would do such a thing. He kidnaps one of the ‘precogs’, ‘Agatha’, played by Morton. She is unable to walk as her strength has been weakened due to her prolonged state of suspended animation and Cruise has to physically carry her everywhere. They have to survive from the police and at the same time he needs her to help him with the specific details of the crime. In an inspired scene, she helps him avoid being captured, by predicting in real time what is going to happen in the next few seconds. It is film direction and cinematography at its very best. Later on, Cruise puts the pieces together and lands in a man’s hotel room; the place where he is supposed to kill that person. He realizes that this man was responsible for the death of Cruise’s son some years ago; an event which destroyed Cruise’s, marriage and made him a hollow person. Cruise now understands why he is going to be a murderer and gladly accepts his fate. It is then that Morton, who is traumatized due to constant visuals of murder, pleads with him to show restraint. She cries out to him and tells him to choose not to commit the murder since he still has a choice. His future is not yet certain and he has an ability to change it. These are powerful performances as Cruise is torn apart while trying to fight his instincts and do the right thing. Even though a science fiction, the story has a moral. It is indeed our choices, not our fate that governs our life. There is none better than Spielberg to remind us of that.