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It's the year 2054 and in Washington DC a test programme has been underway for the past six years during which a trio of "precognitives" predict murders that are about to take place, allowing officers of the "Precrime Unit" to interrupt the killing. There hasn't been a murder in Washington for six years, and the programme is about to go national. The head cop is Anderton (Cruise), whose DA father-in-law (Von Sydow) is basking in the glory. But before it can go national, an investigator (Farrell) shows up to see how it works. Then things Anderton himself is named as a future murderer. So he goes on the run with one of the precogs (Morton) to prove his innocence.

This only describes the basic backbone of the story; there are subplots spinning out all over the place--back stories, sidetrips full of colourful characters and, most of all, twists and turns that keep shifting the story's direction for the full two and a half hours. And it's all edge-of-your-seat stuff too (so use the loo before it starts)! Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is mesmerising; the washed out glariness accents the high-tech futuristic gimmickry and makes the special effects perfectly seamless (although product placement levels are ludicrously high). And Spielberg knows how to tell a story, getting solid performances from his cast that make full use of tiny character details and hint at more besides. It's never annoyingly obvious, there's a blast of fresh humour from start to finish, and the interpersonal drama is nicely understated and all the more believable for it. And it's a seriously grown-up film too, only barely avoiding some real grisliness to leave it in our minds where it's that much more vivid. Quite simply, this is one of those rare blockbusters that satisfies both in its big spectacle and in the small, intimate moments.