PRE-CRIME
It is 2054. The police are solving murders before they happen, utilizing a trio of Precogs (someone who can see future events). How? Technology manages to extract visions they have as a 3-pronged psychic unit in an isolation chamber (called the Temple), analyzing it like video clips and finding the location, arresting the offender to be before they can do any harm.

SEEING THE FUTURE VIA LITERATURE FROM THE PAST
Another one of Philip K. Dick's short stories get the Spielberg treatment, like his last outing with the moving A.I. Dick also wrote Ridley Scott's Bladerunner and the recent Impostor. Again it represents a fabulous future vision where retinal scans personalize your access, identity and even target you for advertising - using your name in product pitches as you pass ad billboards. Traffic, video newspapers, animated cartoon cereal boxes, TV and data storage all get marvelous futuristic spins - the set design and digital trickery blending wonderfully, Spielberg melding the human factor with that of the invisible post production in a virtually seamless believable way while still offering us traditional drama, suspense and action.

MISSION INSURMOUNTABLE
Tom Cruise is the cop (with a bitter past, obviously) who keeps his State safe from murder, the rate reverting to zero since the programme was instated a few years back. There's a vote coming up to have the program go national, an ex-theology student turned cop arriving to investigate any flaws the seemingly impeccable method may have. After a rare visit to the Temple, the female of the Precogs communicate a clue to Cruise - our hero cop then becomes the suspect in a future crime, seeing himself kill another man. The chase is on for him to find out where and who the stranger is and why he'd want to kill him. A set-up? It's not exactly a mystery as to the "who", but more a "how" and "why".

STARPOWER
While Cruise carries himself well, as usual, it does feel a bit like he's reiterating his Mission:Impossible character with forgivable, justified flaws. As the lead protagonist having to find the key to his own innocence, the entire film rides on his shoulders, but with such an array of amazing visuals, sub-plots, gadgetry and red herrings woven into the narrative, Tom's starpower is a by-product when it comes to drawing audiences towards this picture. Notwithstanding the Spielberg moviemaking legend.

4 / B
- PB

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