Regular readers of the site will know that earlier this year we ran a series looking at the classic films of Keanu Reeves. This was to co-inside with the release of the fantastic John Wick; now we turn our attention to another big name from the nineties, Tom Cruise. Each week from now until the release of the highly anticipated fifth Mission Impossible film, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the films that we feel are his classics. This week’s pick is Minority Report.
Minority Report takes place in 2054 where all crime is predicted and controlled by the PreCrime task force. Trouble brews when one of their best agents, Anderton, finds his name on this list and gets hunted down before he can commit the pre-destined murder.
The film directed by Steven Spielberg is based on novel ‘The Minority Report’ by Philip K Dick. Interestingly the story was originally being worked on by members of Hollywood as a sequel to Total Recall. The setting was moved to Mars, the Precogs, people mutated by the atmosphere. Anderton, who Tom Cruise would go on to play, was morphed in Arnold Schwarzengger‘s Douglas Quaid. That would have been a completely different film.
Fortunately this idea was scrapped and the more sensible script eventually landed with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise. The pair loved the project so much that they both agreed to waive their normal fees, instead taking a 15% take of the end box office which, considering it took over $350 million, isn’t too bad a pay check.
Spielberg managed to showcase an impressive vision of the 2054 future scape. He didn’t come about the aesthetics easily though – three years before production started he tasked a special workforce of the best science minds to devise tangible future tech. The desaturated look of the overall visuals came from cinematographer Janusz Kaminski bleaching the film negatives during post-production.
Everybody runs. At least that’s what the Minority Report advertising would have you believe. Tom Cruise definitely runs a lot. You’ll be hard pressed to find a film featuring the action hero where he doesn’t run at least once, as this video demonstrates beautifully.
He doesn’t just run though, he also loves a good crazy stunt or two. For his forthcoming Mission Impossible movie, he strapped himself aboard a moving aircraft. He didn’t do anything quite as death-defying as that for Minority Report, but he did learn how to create that rising air bubble for the bathtub scene. Spielberg was happy to create the air bubble with CG but Tom took the time and put in the effort to do it naturally.
The film features Samantha Morton as Agatha, one of the three Precogs. Morton is exquisite in the role, though as I also hail from Nottingham I might be a little biased. Trivia fans might be interested to learn that all three PreCogs are named after famous mystery writers; Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Dashiell Hammett.
Minority Report was Cruise’s first foray into the science fiction realm, but wouldn’t be his last. It seems that working in the genre for the first time he suddenly had his eyes opened to possibilities it held. Since making Minority Report he worked with Spielberg again on War of the Worlds, before branching out on his own with Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow. As his first sic-fi however, Minority Report holds that special honour for being one of Tom Cruise‘s classics.
