Steven Spielberg’s "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" surprisingly didn’t win any awards at the end of the year, nor garner rave reviews across the board. Some thought he infused the film with a little too much of his own vision, taking away Stanley Kubrick’s in the process. I personally thought it was a fine film – although the last fifteen minutes did leave me frustrated. The film ultimately grossed nearly $80M at the U.S. box office – far below the $215M-plus he made in 1998 with "Saving Private Ryan".

But now we have Cruise and Spielberg together, offering us a very cool-looking movie. The blue wash seen in the trailers and commercials is beautiful and I think Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton will serve as excellent supporting players. But will "Minority Report" be more than a popcorn flick?

I believe if handled with the seriousness with which it should, the premise of "Minority Report" – that is, a society with a perfect precrime system – is very intriguing. It speaks to our fears, our collective wish that crime could be eliminated through ultimate prevention. In our society today, premeditation is a term we often hear of when discussing crime. The question raised is whether or not the crime was premeditated or not, and the severity of the punishment oftentimes depends on this very point.

If the crime was premeditated, but failed, the person on trial is still guilty.

When I think of "Minority Report", I wonder if the visions of the seers serve as a kind of exposed premeditation? Tom Cruise’s character, John Anderton, states – "The fact that you prevent it from happening doesn't change the fact that it was going to happen." I liken this to premeditation in that just because the crime isn’t fulfilled doesn’t mean that the person who planned it, plotted it, is not guilty. Quite the opposite in that the crime began with the thought.

In "Minority Report", does the crime begin with the vision? What prompted the vision? Is it the "thought" of the crime in the mind of the suspect/criminal, which ultimately leads to the crime that the seers see? The movie asks what happens if there is a flaw in this so-called "perfect" system? As Colin Farrell’s character, Ed Witwer, wants to know – "You ever get any false positives?" That is the question.

If the answer is "yes", then the integrity of the entire system comes under fire and the safety society once operated under no longer exists. If the system can be manipulated, then how can it be trusted? This is what I believe "Minority Report" can offer. As said, the movie seems to offer an exploration into the issues of crime, guilt, innocence, justice and due process, but will it deliver?

Will it address the issues and questions it raises? Or will it spiral into a typical chase movie? Will it be overwhelmed by special effects? Or will it discuss these issues or at least explore them to a point where we, the audience, can leave the theater wanting to discuss it ourselves?

Would I rather talk about the cars in the movie or about the premise of a future society free from crime? Word-of-mouth could help "Minority Report" become more than a popcorn flick and the fact that Steven Spielberg directed it gives a person hope that it will.

Although the marquee of Cruise and Spielberg is certainly impressive, their last movies tell us that their names alone do not always guarantee box-office glory. The summer has already offered us two popcorn, purely fun movies in "Attack of the Clones" and "Spider-Man". It would help "Minority Report" to offer us more.