Tom Cruise
returns to our screens following the indifferent Vanilla Sky teaming up Steven
Spielberg to produce a classy attempt at currently in-vogue surrealism.
Set in around
2015 we see Cruise appearing in some futuristic law enforcement headquarters
where he is receiving some sort of briefing from his commanding officer. Everything is confusing as we the audience
struggle to get to grips with the futuristic set and try and work out the
plot. An wooden object roughly the size
of a cricket ball arrives from a chute and it has a name on it well it makes
a change from a bullet I guess. We
still don't know why but the team are sent out on assignment and just as the
action is about to hot up six to eight law enforcement officers abseil from the
air and save the day once again. I half
expected one of them to be carrying a Black Magic Box but Spielberg missed the
opportunity. Bang goes the Oscar then.
Back at
base we discover more of the plot. The
World has moved on and the murder rate was becoming prohibitive so the state
prototyped a system known as Pre-Crime that could
predict with 100% when a murder would occur so that officers could be
despatched to prevent the act taking place thereby keeping the streets safe. The system was prototyped in Washington DC
and it was so successful that it was planned to take the system national but
after a referendum. Well youre
expecting it. We weren't told whether Britain's referendum
on the single currency had taken place and if it had what the result was. But Denmark are definitely still out.
Some subtle satire on modern politics and
we have a plot. Later we are told more
about the system. It relies on three pre-cogs
human beings immersed in salt water a la Peter Gabriel so they can
concentrate all their powerful psychic powers so that the future murders could
be predicted. I mean all lAngel
be predicted. I mean all angel I think he grew out of it by the time he reached his Sledgehammer
period.
The usual plot twists involving time
travel are rehashed but not overplayed.
Running up to the referendum small flaws are made apparent in the system
which if they were known would affect the result. Think of it like the Portuguese public expenditure figures if you
like. There is a public failure and this
is expertly glossed over by the party machine.
As the film goes on more and more becomes known and one of the
scientists working on it is uncovered and voices serious reservations on the
eventual implementation of the original design. And then a classic twist.
Cruise discovers that the pre-cogs have predicted that he will murder
another man sometime in the future. A
cricket ball arrives with his name on it so to speak. The second half of the
film involves Cruise trying to use the human and technical flaws in the system
to prevent himself performing the murder and being innocently thrown into one
of Her Majesty's hotels.
We see the sort of World class special effects that we have come to expect from Mr. Spielberg, some great cars the multi-level roadways and bumper to bumper driving had me thinking of Londons A406 North Circular Road near Brent Cross. Once again we have to comment the technicians on some top lighting as well as the orchestra for an excellent score which respected movie conventions while managing to add something new.
An excellent exercise in surrealism spiced
up with some political satire but on a personal note I left the cinema somewhat
dazed only to hear a Dutch barrel organ which for some reason emphasised the surrealism. I experienced this feeling before after
seeing Moulin Rouge and I should add that I was only under the influence of nothing
more exotic than the standard cinema refreshments. Knowing what to do I headed for a familiar refuge and watched a
few holes of the Ryder Cup which helped facilitate a speedy recovery. One of those you would like to see again.