Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 12:2
Minority Report
Steven Spielberg, director.
Universal Studios, 2002
2 hrs. 26 min.
Reviewed by Zoltan Horvath
Minority Report is a science fiction movie which explores justice, freewill, religion and morality from a profoundly postmodern point of view. The movie is not without its flaws but it contains moments of high drama, suspenseful and exciting action sequences, all within a compelling plot. The movie depicts a largely coherent future society where murder can be prevented before it occurs by means of foreknowledge obtained through gifted individuals who have visions of these murders. Arrested before the murder occurs, the would-be perpetrator is charged with "pre-crime." He/she is then placed in a state of suspended animation for what seems an indefinite sentence (like unto the finality of capital punishment). During this incarceration the "criminal" is occupied with blissful dreams.
This seemingly perfect system starts to unravel when the lead character, a police chief played by Tom Cruise, is to be arrested for the "pre-murder" of someone he has never met. This leads him to question the accuracy of the system he helped develop. Evading capture, he sets out to clear his name, but in the process discovers flaws in the system that challenge the faith he once had in it.
This movie was entertaining but has a strong religious element that is utterly postmodern. The crimes are foretold through the visions of three "precogs" who are "gifted" youths born to drug-abusing women. The precogs are steeped in religious imagery that is even explicitly discussed. There are analogies to our Triune God. They all have the same power of prescience and they function as a single unit. If one is removed, the system cannot function properly. There is even a hierarchy amongst the three. The greatest is, of course, the female though they look asexual. The place where they live is unofficially dubbed "the temple."
The imagery of God is striking, but it is perverted by the postmodern worldview of religion. The precogs are likened unto "oracles" and "gods" that some of the public worship. However, these individuals are not publicly accessible and are thus veiled in mystery. What they say and how they live is not generally known, and of course there are wild inaccuracies between reality and common belief. At one point it is stated that priests, not oracles, wield power in religion. The oracle represents the direct word from God and is therefore objective. However, the message is filtered through priests who change it for their own benefit. In this way, there is no objective way for us to know and experience God even if He tries to communicate objectively. The impotence of God is further illustrated in the movie imagery in that the precogs are kept passive and dependent. Other characters wield the real power and the precogs are ultimately abused. God is therefore presented as an object we use for our own devices and mold into our image rather than conforming ourselves to Him.
Justice is another major theme in this movie. The punishment of criminals for crimes they would have committed raises the popular philosophical question "If you met Hitler when he was a child and knew that he would be responsible for the deaths of millions, what would you do?" The correct answer from a biblical standpoint can only be that we ought to do nothing. Effectively this question asks us to play God, because only He has such foreknowledge. In Minority Report, this foreknowledge is placed into human hands. If we had foreknowledge of criminal acts and then act to stop evil before it occurred in a way that God did not&mdashlindeed He did not strike Hitler dead in his youth—then we are judging God's allowance of evil and presumptuously trying to improve on the wisdom of His plan.
Ultimately the pre-crime program is terminated in the movie but for the wrong reasons. The main problem raised is that the precogs could be in error. Indeed, the movie draws its name from the fact that one precog's vision may disagree with the other two (a "minority report"). The program is abandoned because of the possibility of error and all pre-criminals are given unconditional pardons&mdashlnotwithstanding they had never committed any crime. This argument against the program is analogous to one many people speciously raise against capital punishment: since we may wrongfully put someone to death we should therefore abandon God's prescribed justice altogether.
Another problem the movie raises with the pre-crime system is that we are supposedly free agents who can act in a manner contrary to what is foretold. The characters still have a choice and can contradict the vision of the oracle. This opposes God's sovereignty and thus divine foreknowledge is called into question. Therefore, God is rendered even more impotent.
The question of true justice is never dealt with adequately in the movie. The pre-crime program is not abandoned because it is intrinsically unjust. To punish someone for a crime they are about to commit is without biblical mandate and therefore a violation of divine justice. In the movie this quandary is only discussed in connection with the possibility of error. However, it is shown that since the murder rate dropped to zero, no error exists. As such, the success rate is more important than the question of justice. This is analogous to arguments that weigh the merits of methods for criminal punishment solely on the basis of whether or not they deter crime while ignoring justice altogether.
This movie is an example of the postmodern ideology that is inundating our society. It grants that religion is significant but in reality there is nothing objective to believe in. There is no real redemption in the movie or its characters. Ultimately, the truth and hope in the gospel is rejected and the audience is left to grasp at straws of meaning like chaff in the wind.
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