Dicking it at the Movies

This weekend I watched Minority Report (2002).

I had seen this movie around the time when it first came out but didn't watch it again with appreciation until about six years ago when a law professor showed us the opening action sequence to illustrate mens rea. At the time it came out I was pretty skeptical of Tom Cruise movies as well as Steven Spielberg movies and I had not yet been aware of Philip K. Dick's writing.

It's a pretty good movie, not the greatest thing ever (the relationship of Cruise's character and his son is kind of weird to watch, like they're trying to act like humans). I feel like it does give a nice taste of Philip K. Dick's style. There's something uneasy and retro about his look at the future. Everything is a little more convoluted than you would expect in the future in his writing and the characters have a nice average-ness to them even if they're stars in their fields. By average I mean they have deep flaws and aren't typically charming Tom Cruise characters. Cruise tries to fight through those character traits and other actors like Colin Farrell pull those duties in his place.

Letterboxd review.