Minority Report

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Ok. So last we left I talked about Vanilla Sky and how it really didn't live up to my nostalgic memory of it. Critics seemed to agree, but audiences were curious, giving Cruise another $100 million hit.

Including Jerry Maguire, Tom had added 3 more movies to his ever growing list of hits, garnered his second and third Oscar nominations, and worked with one of the most renowned directors in Hollywood history. How does one follow all that shit up?

You work with Steven Spielberg, of course.

Which brings us to Minority Report, an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's sci-fi thriller. This is a really interesting time not just for Cruise, who for the better part of a decade made it a point to make movies that leaned darker and more adult than ever, but for Spielberg as well, who had also been leaning away from the family friendly blockbusters into more intense and emotional territory right around the same time.

The film follows Cruise as John Anderton, a hot shot future cop of Pre-Crime (!) who has gotten the murder rate in Washington D.C. down to zero thanks to three gifted humans who can see the future. It's an exciting and often grim futuristic tale of police politics that once again finds Tom at the top of his game, proving himself an able action hero as well as a believable man on the run.

But look, Minority Report is the Steven Spielberg show all day long. The opening sequence alone is a masterclass, clearly and effectively setting up the premise and stakes, ramping up the tension with every passing second. I must also mentioned that I was totally surprised at how much of the action is practical as opposed to green screen or CGI. I mean, there's plenty of both seeing as how it takes place in the future, but there are multiple chases and sequences that employ good old fashion in camera tricks or stunts. Of course, the entire movie is a marvel and like War of the Worlds to follow, Minority Report stands as one of Spielberg's most unsung masterpieces.

Minority Report came out in June of 2002 to enthusiastic reviews and $132 million in the U.S. and over $350 million worldwide. Now, for a PG-13 sci-fi/action movie directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, you might think those numbers are a little low, and you'd be right. The movie didn't reach the heights of either of their crowd pleasing hits from years before (though they would make up for it with the $600 million grossing War of the Worlds a few years later). But as mentioned, neither star or director were interested in making easy to swallow popcorn movies which were taking over the top spots in the years after 9/11 (The Santa Cause 2 and XXX starring Vin Diesel both outgrossed Minority Report that year). But still, the Cruise Quality promise remained intact.

Well friends, I have a very small announcement for the 13 of you of read this. I'm starting a new blog/website in an attempt to make this a little more legitimate. That also means this is the end of my Tom Cruise journey, at least for now. My focus with the new site is to write about whatever I'm passionate about in that particular moment,  and revisiting these old Tom favorites has inspired me to branch a little and revisit some other favorites from when I first started to fall in love with film, so my first post will be about my favorite movie of all time, Die Hard with a Vengeance which just celebrated its 25th anniversary this past May.

Of course, I'm still gonna watch Tom Cruise movies which means I'll also be writing about them. So don't worry yourself. I hope you enjoyed this little spiral into a pit of despair as much as I have. Be on the lookout for my new site in the coming days and remember, I like movies.