In Minority Report (2002), Tom Cruise played Chief John Anderton, head of a Washington police unit that arrests murderers before they commit their crimes, using visions from three precogs. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film follows Anderton as he himself is predicted to commit a murder, and he goes on the run to prove his innocence and uncover a conspiracy.
Cruise gave Anderton intensity and grief, a man haunted by the disappearance of his son and by a system he once trusted. The film’s futuristic world, with gesture-controlled screens and personalised advertising, became one of the most influential science-fiction visions of its time.
Minority Report remains a signature Cruise role because it paired his action-star energy with a thoughtful, paranoid thriller, and because Anderton’s question, whether the future can be changed, still resonates.