Saw this on it’s UK opening night last night, and have got to say that I was quite impressed. I think that it’s possible that a few people may be disappointed when they see it – but Spielberg is grown up these days, and makes interesting and though provoking films.
The plot, as explained in a million other places, revolves around the Department of Precrime, where murders are stopped before they happen due to the efforts of three pre-cogs. I was most impressed with the way you are forced to consider events, and the rights or wrongs of the situation. But even more so was the future that was fashioned in this film. There is a defnitite “turn of the millennium” future-style, that we’ve seen in both Spielberg’s last film, AI, and also Gattaca. It’s not totally clean and sterile, but not completely grungy Bladerunner/Alien -style (although there are elements of that).
There is quite a lot of commecialism in the film – with Nokia featuring particularly strongly in one scene, and the interactive advertising being quite an entertaining (and potentially powerful) mechanism – your retina is scanned when you walk past video bilboard, and a computer animated character impores you to buy things that are suited to your previous shopping habits or lifestyle.
Very thoughtful fare for a summer blockbuster.