Minority Report
	Rated PG-13
	Runtime: 2hr 25min
	Staring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Peter Stormare, Max Von Sydow
	MFG Rating: 4/5

Minority Report may very well be the best movie released so far during the Summer of 2002. And that is saying something considering that it has been one of the best crops of summer blockbusters in memory. Steven Spielberg is at the top of his game as a film maker with this release, more than making up for last summer's disappointing "A.I.".

Set in the year 2054, murder is a thing of the past in Washington D.C. A group of three humans with pre-cognitive powers, called "Pre-Cogs", can predict murders before they happen. An entire Department of Precrime has been developed to act on the visions of the Pre-Cogs and prevent murders before they happen. The Precrime unit is headed by John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise. And all goes well until the Pre-cogs have a vision of Anderton himself commiting a murder.

This is an absolutely wonderful and unique story based upon a Philip K. Dick short story. Science Fiction fans may remember that Blade Runner was also based on one of his stories, and if you enjoyed that movie you'll love this one. Spielberg does a great job of incorporating modern special effects to make for a ton of eye candy but without distracting from the story. Instead, the effects are a part of the story and enhance the experience. And Tom Cruise turns in a great performance. There are few better at doing bigtime action while actually using emotion to build a character at the same time.

We only have a couple of gripes with this movie. It does have a handful of slow spots that are used for character development, but they're necessary. And I can't remember a movie with more product placements than this one. Though the movie paints an amusing picture of how marketing may exploit future technology.

Minority Report comes within an eyelash of our 5 star rating. We give it 4 stars, but this is one of those movies that tempts us to introduce half-star increments on our ratings. This isn't a movie that I think a lot of people will go watch over and over again, but it is a movie that I consider a must-see on the big screen. There's a lot of competition this summer, but be sure to make time to see this one.

- Billy Bob