Synopsis for
Minority Report (2002) Plus avec IMDbPro »

In Washington, D.C. in the year 2054, John Anderton (Tom Cruise) and his team of Precrime police officers are in the midst of apprehending a suspect who is about to commit a murder. They are acting on data obtained from the "precogs," three mutated humans who can see into the future. Only the names of the victim and perpetrator, and the time and date of the crime, are explicitly given; all other facts must be determined by studying the precogs' visions, which are transmitted from their brains directly into the Precrime computer system.

As Anderton works, he is observed by Danny Witwer (Collin Farrell), an agent from the United States Department of Justice. Witwer has been sent to evaluate the system because the country is about to vote on whether to expand the Precrime program nationally. After the suspect has been apprehended, the murder reappears on the displays. It is explained that the precogs sometimes think about a crime that has been stopped, and that these echo images are deleted from the system. That evening, Anderton reminisces over home movies of his ex-wife Lara (Kathryn Morris) and the couple's missing six-year-old son.

The next morning, he and Witwer tour the chamber in which the precogs are kept semiconscious and wired up to the system. After Witwer has gone, the precog Agatha (Samantha Morton) snaps fully awake, and images of a woman being murdered play across the chambers video screens. When Anderton investigates, he finds that the visions from the other two precogs, Arthur and Dashiell, are on record, but Agathas is not. The potential victim, a woman named Ann Lively, was reported as having gone missing shortly after her assailant was caught. Anderton reports his findings to Precrime Director Lamar Burgess (Max von Sydow), who suggests that he let the matter drop.

Upon returning to his office, Anderton is alerted to a new murder that is to take place in 36 hours, with himself as the perpetrator. He does not know the victim, Leo Crow, leading him to believe that he is being set up. As Witwer and the Precrime team close in, Anderton makes his way to the residence of Dr. Iris Hineman (Lois Smith), whose research laid the groundwork for the Precrime program. Hineman explains that the three precogs do not always agree on their visions of the future; when this happens, the one that deviates the most from the others is ignored. In order to establish his innocence, Anderton must determine whether this minority report exists and, if so, get it for himself.

Since everyone is subjected to iris scans wherever they go, Anderton undergoes an eye transplant at the hands of a shady doctor in order to escape detection in this manner. While sleeping after the surgery, he dreams about the day his son vanishedhe was abducted from a swimming pooland awakens to find the Precrime team searching the building for him. Small bipedal robotic eye scanners are sent into the rooms; one of them finds Anderton and scans his iris, but the surgery has succeeded and he is not recognized. Returning to the Precrime offices in disguise, Anderton removes Agatha from the precogs chamber, disrupting the trios hive mind that makes the system work. He takes her to a hacker friend of his, who successfully extracts her vision of Crows murder for Anderton to see. It is identical to the one he watched in his office.

Now Anderton tracks down Crows address and gains entry to his apartment. Crow is not present, but he finds a pile of photographs of children, including his missing son. Anderton realizes that there is no minority report in his case he is going to kill Crow, whom he now blames for the kidnapping. When Crow enters, Anderton assaults him to extract a confession as Agatha tries to persuade Anderton that he does not have to commit this murder. He relents and begins to read Crow his Miranda rights. Crow reveals that the photographs are doctored and were given to him to leave in the apartment in order to set up this very confrontation. His family has been promised a cash payoff only if Anderton kills him; to force this outcome, Crow grabs Andertons gun while still in his hand, aims the weapon at himself, and pulls the trigger.

After Anderton and Agatha leave, Witwer and the Precrime team arrive to investigate the crime scene. Witwer has his doubts about the circumstances and later discusses them with Burgess, bringing up the Lively case as well. He now has all three precogs records of that murder, but slight differences between them lead him to deduce what really happened that day. Her potential killer was arrested based on the matching visions of Arthur and Dashiell, but a second person then arrived and killed her in exactly the same manner, the act seen by Agatha and later disregarded as an echo vision. Witwer suggests that only a member of Precrime could have the skill to manipulate the system in this way, whereupon Burgess kills him, knowing that the other precogs are unable to foresee this act with Agatha gone.

As Anderton and Agatha hide in Laras house, he realizes that he was set up because of what he knows about the Lively case. Lively, Agathas mother, had been killed because she wanted to reunite with her daughter. The police finally apprehend Anderton and return Agatha to the precogs chamber. Burgess later meets with Lara to comfort her, only to accidentally reveal that he killed Lively.

Lara forces the prison guard to release Anderton, who proceeds to interrupt a reception in Burgess honor by calling him and playing back the video that shows him killing Lively. At the same time, a new potential murder is reported at the office, with Anderton as victim and Burgess as perpetrator. Realizing that Anderton must be somewhere nearby, Burgess takes a revolver given to him as a present and begins searching the area. When the two men come face to face, Anderton points out the impossible situation. If Burgess shoots, he will prove that Precrime works at the cost of a life sentence; if not, the whole system falls apart. Burgess resolves the dilemma by killing himself instead.

In the aftermath of this incident, the Precrime program is abandoned. All criminals imprisoned under it are pardoned and released, though local police departments keep watch on many of them for years. Anderton reconciles with Lara, now pregnant with their second child, and the precogs are moved to an unnamed remote location where they can live in peace.