10 Great Movies That Prove Blockbusters Don't Have To Be Dumb

5. Minority Report

As Ridley Scott's Blade Runner proved, Philip K. Dick is the go-to-guy when it comes to scouring through obscure pulp science fiction stories to uncover hidden gems. Dick had a real knack for delivering startlingly vivid alternative worlds which explored and often lambasted everything from psychotropic medication to corporate culture and society which has lost its identity. While some of Dick's other adaptations are best avoided like the plague (steer clear of Next and Paycheck at all costs) others proved that his particular brand of high concept science fiction was perfect for the movie treatment. Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Minority Report might have disappointed fans of the original short story with its radically different ending but the spirit remained firmly in place. Taking the idea of precognition as its central theme, Minority Report takes the tried and trusted premise of an innocent man trying to clear his name and turns it on his head, the hero (Tom Cruise, of course) having yet to actually commit the act which leads to his arrest. Free will versus determinism aren't philosophical ideas you see in blockbusters very often, and it's to Spielberg's credit that they remain central to the narrative of Minority Report.