Before I start this review, I'd like to say that I am a huge fan of Steven Spielberg. But then, those that frequent the Independent and zboneman.com already know that. I grew up on his movies, and for me, no one offers a better form of cinematic escape.

Last year, the famed director took a lot of criticism for A.I., a picture that I greatly admired even if it was essentially a movie with great ideas that didn't seem fully realized. I still marveled at the look of the picture and thought that Spielberg worked wonders with an expert cast (particularly Haley Joel Osment). With the ambitious and dazzling Minority Report, Spielberg is working with similar ideas, but here, their fleshed out.

A great sense of timing also bodes well for Minority Report given recent current events including the horrifying abduction of Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City. This new glimpse into the future is being billed as the heavyweight collaboration between the world's biggest star (Tom Cruise) and the world's biggest director (Mr. Spielberg), but it's much more.

In Minority Report, Tom Cruise is John Anderton, a flawed yet passionate police officer who heads the Pre-Crime division in Washington D.C. Yes, you read right. Pre-Crime. For you see, in the year 2054, murderers are convicted before they actually commit the crime. How is this possible? Pre-Crime is assisted by three beings (two males and a female) known as the Pre-Cogs. The Pre-Cogs have a talent for seeing the future. As a result, the murder rate rapidly drops in the six year duration of the Pre-Crime program. Anderton is a true believer in the system. In his eyes, it is infallible. That is until he himself, is branded a murderer. How could he possibly be guilty when he's never heard of the man he's supposed to kill? He has no choice but to run until he can prove his innocence, but it wont be easy, because the Pre-Cogs are never wrong.

This is exciting stuff, and I loved the fact that the movie always seems to move boldly forward, putting Anderton in one tough situation after the next. Minority Report never feels repetitious, and that seems to be a major problem in many action films of recent memory.

The cast is extraordinary. Tom Cruise is solid as Anderton. While we've seen Cruise play this sort of character before (see Mission Impossible), he is still compelling to watch. And this isn't straight forward action either. Cruise does have moments here where he does show some range. He's also an absolute pro with technical jargon (check out the scene at the beginning of the picture, when he views the images of a crime about to happen). Colin Farrell is also terrific as the wide eyed, ambitious officer hot on Anderton's trail. He has an effective swagger and the whole gum chewing thing is an expert touch. For me, however, Samantha Morton clearly steals every scene she's in as the emotionally distraught Pre-Cog Agatha. This is a haunting, heartbreaking performance, and Morton plays it with every inch of her body. Also, look closely for some terrific cameos by director Cameron Crowe and actress Penelope Cruz.

This movie is an absolute treasure--it is brilliant in ways I wasn't expecting. Many have cited Minority Report Spielberg's best work since Raiders of the Lost Ark, and while I wouldn't go that far (Schindler's List is the director's crowning achievement), it's easily one of his very best films, despite it's few flaws.

While the first half of Minority Report unfolds as an expertly crafted action picture, it then switches gears as it becomes an absolutely picture perfect homage to old school crime thrillers, harking back to the days of Humphrey Bogart and John Huston. This is perhaps the best picture of it's type in years (with exception of Curtis Hanson's brilliant L.A. Confidential). Spielberg has fused genres here with the greatest of ease. Yes, this is an old fashioned mystery at it's core but it's peppered with a sci-fi/futuristic flavor.

The screenplay, by Scott Frank (Out of Sight) and Jon Cohen (based on a short story by future visionary Philip K. Dick), is a text book exercise in precision, and while some of the Pre-Cog predictions stuff will be debated to no end, I was compelled by nearly every second of this film. Minority Report is full of rich ideas about the future and it's all tied together in a wonderful ode to crime stories of the past.

Technically speaking, this is Spielberg at his very best. There is very little that doesn't work. This is complex stuff, and Spielberg is able to translate words and action into a visual language that the audiences will understand. Unfortunately, Spielberg does feel the need to include a couple of moments that seem sorely out of place. I could have done without those attacking vines. Of course these moments I speak of hardly take away from the overall impact of the film. Spielberg is always in control, and Minority Report shows what a great admirer of film this director really is. Yes, this is a bit Hitchcock, Kubrick, Huston, and Lucas all rolled into one, but at it's heart, it's still a Spielberg film.

And finally, we get a movie this summer in which high tech special effects aren't a distraction or the star of the piece, but rather a tool (as they were meant to be) to tell a human story. And let me say this. This movie does features some eye popping effects work. From an amazing jet pack thriller, to a spectacularly conceived sequence in which mechanical spy-ders invade an apartment complex (incidentally, the apartment is a constructed set, and not a computer generated effect) in an attempt to give retina scans (for identification purposes) to it's residents.

There will undoubtedly be people who attack this picture for it's sentimental moments (particularly the outcome of Anderton and the precogs). This has sort of become a Spielberg trademark, and it's a shame, because Spielberg isn't without restraint in this picture. In fact, a key subplot (one that I will not give away) remains unsolved. At any rate, I don't have a problem with sentimentality as long as it fits the material, and in the case of Minority Report, it does.

Steven Spielberg has fashioned a grand piece of spectacle entertainment that challenges the mind but also delivers visually. It's the one movie this summer that constantly had me overwhelmed with a sense of wonder. So much in fact, that I actually sat through the movie twice in two days. Upon a second viewing, I even appreciated it more. The breathless Minority Report is clearly the best movie of the summer thus far. In fact , I doubt there will be a better movie this year.