Philip K. Dick must be a fascinating writer. You don't think so? Well, directors like Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven and Steven Spielberg will not agree with you, for all of them have made films out of his short stories; ie Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report respecitvely.

The year is 2054, and the Pre-Crime squad is introduced to us as a team of cops who goes out arresting perpetrators before even commiting their crime. They have captive phsycics called Precogs who does the predictions. Tom Cruise plays Detective John Anderton, who, like most heroes nowadays, has some troubled past and presently succumbed to dope addiction which....ah, you know the rest. In one of the predictions, he sees his own image, killing someone he doesn't even know. He runs, eluding the law and at the same time, attempting to solve the mystery on his own.

I had trouble initially identifying the genre for this movie. It is a sci-fi movie alright, but all the same there was a strong mystery/thriller mode going on, especially on a subject of a man falsely accused, in this case, murdering someone in the future. As a matter of fact, there is a slight noir feeling to it, especially in the lighting and colour. I swear that there many scenes that looked almost black and white.

Since crime/mystery genre is my main staple (books and movies), I had no trouble figuring out what was going to happen. Even during the first half hour, I knew who the real bad guy is. It is simple. Throw is some characters around Anderton. Make one hostile, and some loving. Some fatherly, some this and some that. The least guy you know audience will expect, will be the bad guy. It is a century old formula and here it is used very conciously. In fact, the film has about two to three climaxes. I liked the first during the moment when the predicted murder were to take place. It was pure cinematic moment, until after that where Hollywood took over.

I guess Spielberg has much to do with it. Almost all his movies has upbeat ending, so should this, especially when you have crowd-pleaser like Cruise playing the hero to root for. Well I am just grumbling. Overall the movie looks good. I like the technology part, which, unlike in other sci-fi films which are exaggerated beyound measure, looks appropriate and believable. It should. Spielberg consulted scientists and analysts on how the future should look. There is product placement throughout the movie, but they seemed very appropriate, looking at the way marketing and advertising gobbling up every possible platform to sell their products.

There were also some genuine moments of humour. I liked it, in this otherwise grim and intense movie. Spielberg has not lost any of his touch. All he needs now is probably THE script that will further reaffirm his reputation as an 'untouchable' director.

By now, Tom Cruise is so good in playing man on the run (The Firm and Mission Impossible), that Spielberg must have done very little directing him. I had never been fascinated with Cruises performance, and I felt the same here. In fact, a different twist could have been given if Scwarzenneger (more explosions and violence) or Russell Crowe (more wallowing and brooding) were in it. But the film belongs to Spielberg.

Oh yes, before I forget. Check out the mechanical spiders. Those are cute stuff, and very funny too. And can somebody tell the scriptwriters that wiping fingerprints off a gun is a no-no these days (and the story is set in the future). They can extract the DNA on it, which belongs to the hankerchief and identify the real culprit. I told you that crime/mystery is my staple.