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In 2054, John Anderton is a member of
an experimental Washington, D.C. police force known as Precrime, which
uses future visions generated by three "precogs", mutated humans with
precognition abilities, to stop murders. Due to the unit's actions,
D.C. has been essentially murder-free for six years. Though chief of
the force, Anderton has been addicted to an illegal psychoactive drug
since the disappearance of his son Sean, which also caused his wife
Lara to leave him. With the Precrime concept poised to go nationwide,
the system is audited by Danny Witwer, a member of the Department of
Justice. During the audit, the precogs predict that Anderton will
murder a man named Leo Crow in 36 hours; believing the incident to be a
setup by Witwer, who is aware of Anderton's addiction, and given his
own ignorance of Leo Crow's existence prior to this point, Anderton
attempts to hide the case and quickly departs the area before Witwer
begins a manhunt for him. Anderton seeks the advice of Dr. Iris
Hineman, the lead researcher of the Precrime technology. She explains
to Anderton that the three precogs—the children of drug
addicts using experimental drugs years ago—may see different
visions of the future. When this happens, the system only provides data
on the two reports which agree; a "minority report", showing the
futures where the perpetrators may not have actually committed a
murder, is discarded. According to Dr. Hineman, the female precog
Agatha is likely the one who witnesses the minority reports.
Anderton has his eyes surgically
replaced to avoid iris recognition scanners before travelling back to
Precrime and kidnapping Agatha. This also disables the precogs' hive
mind and prevents the system from being used. Anderton takes Agatha to
a hacker, who is able to extract both Agatha's vision of Crow's
murder—which reveals John's case lacks a minority
report—and another depicting the murder of a woman named Anne
Lively, which Agatha also showed to Anderton the day before he was
incriminated. In an attempt to outrun the police, Anderton and Agatha
end up at the apartment building where Crow is to be killed. Anderton
breaks into Crow's room and finds hundreds of pictures of children,
including his son, on Crow's bed, leading him to conclude that Crow is
the man responsible for Sean's disappearance. When Crow arrives,
Anderton holds him at gunpoint, but ultimately decides to control his
anger and place Crow under arrest. Crow admits that he was hired to
plant the photos and be killed so his family would be paid handsomely;
realizing Anderton will no longer kill him, Crow grabs the officer's
hand, making him fire at point-blank range, and dies. After assessing
Crow's "murder", Witwer doubts that Anderton killed in cold blood, and
approaches the Precrime division's director Lamar Burgess. Witwer, who
has also discovered Agatha's recording of the Anne Lively murder,
observes that someone must have manipulated the system to fake the
murder. However, taking advantage of the precogs' temporary inability
to operate, Burgess suddenly kills Witwer and frames Anderton for
Witwer's murder.
Anderton approaches his ex-wife Lara
for refuge, and realizes that his knowledge of the Lively case is why
he is being targeted: Lively was Agatha's mother, and shortly after her
request to see her daughter again, Lively was killed, despite an
earlier attempt on her life failing when it was predicted by the
precogs. The Precrime unit eventually captures Anderton and restores
Agatha to the system. Burgess attempts to comfort Lara, but
accidentally reveals that he knows more about Lively's death than
implied. Lara uses this information to free Anderton.
At a banquet to celebrate the success
of the Precrime unit and Burgess, Anderton plays Agatha's vision of the
Lively murder for the gathered crowd, clearly showing Burgess as the
murderer. As Burgess sneaks off to confront Anderton, a new precrime
report is created: Anderton is the victim and Burgess is the murderer.
When Burgess finds Anderton, Anderton says it's over and presents him
with an no-win situation: if Burgess kills Anderton, he proves the
system works but at the cost of a life sentence, while if he does not,
the system will not have worked and the Precrime division will be shut
down. Anderton reveals the fundamental flaw of the system: if one knows
his or her own future, he or she can change it. Burgess resolves the
paradox by killing himself. The Precrime program is shut down, all
those jailed as a result of Precrime are pardoned and released and the
precogs are given the chance to lead a full life. Anderton and Lara
remarry and start a new family.
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