Minority Report

Introduction

Minority Report (2002) is an American science fiction by Steven Spielberg as director and Tom Cruise as the leading role. The screenplay is based on the eponymous short story by American author Philip K. Dick from the year 1956.

Description and Analysis

In Washington DC, in 2054, John Anderton works for the Department of PreCrime, using the precognition to prevent future killings. This is made possible by the so-called three "Precogs" Agatha, Arthur and Dashiell. In their visions, they envision the future of the murders. The names of perpetrators and victims are engraved in wood balls. Furthermore, the police may use the images of their visions, to determine the (future) offenders. They are arrested without trial and brought into custody by an artificially induced state of permanent unconsciousness (Blau, 1).

Anderton is a capable police officer, but since the loss of his son six years earlier and the subsequent separation from his wife, he is depressed and takes drugs regularly. Agatha envisions a murder of Leo Crow and the murderer was Anderton. The act was going to take place in 36 hours. Anderton flew from the police building, but in 2054 he had little chance to get far. In public places, scanners are installed that every passer-by iris recognition to identify. He did not want to be arrested; therefore he did not miss the chance to prove his innocence.

Anderton got to the lead researcher of the preCrime detector, Iris Hineman. She told him that she is less involved, and recognized the capabilities of the three existing Precogs. Iris recalled Anderton on the possibility that there was a so-called "minority report", because not always all of the three Precogs saw the same future. But this is to jeopardize the credibility of the process does not even conceal the investigators. If the vision of the ...