15 Fascinating Premises That Were Bigger Than The Movies Themselves

11. Minority Report

The Premise: In a police department where officers can arrest criminals before they've committed crimes, the Chief of the department himself is accused of future murder. Before Tom Cruise became synonymous with run-of-the-mill action movies and scientology, Minority Report was hugely original and breathtakingly exciting; and that's just what we'd all heard about the plot. The movie deals with the struggle between free will and pre-determined destiny, and it's a fascinating look at a man who is established as dark from the outset - he's going to kill somebody in the future - before his character is explored over the course of the film. And whether the "precrime department" is a good idea or not, is also left for the audience to question; it's a plot that sets out fairly straightforward utopian morals, before complicating them with individual characters. But though Minority Report is set in a complicated society, it never compromises its core idea; it's a film about a man on the run not from his past, but from what's about to happen. That's about as simple, and as ingenious, as a science-fiction flick will ever get, right?