Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of a Philip K. Dick sci-fi book will come off as the perfect follow-up to Tom Cruise’s forgotten cyberpunk movie, Minority Report.
When one thinks about Tom Cruise’s filmography, big action franchises like Mission: Impossible and Top Gun come to mind. Others might think about his roles in more acclaimed dramas like Jerry Maguire and Rain Man. Some may even recall his relatively underrated performances in films like Vanilla Sky and The Last Samurai.
Most would forget his iconic cyberpunk movie, which was directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from a Philip K. Dick book. Fortunately, Netflix’s new Philip K. Dick adaptation will help viewers remember the brilliant Tom Cruise sci-fi film.
Netflix’s Philip K Dick Adaptation Will Be The Perfect Follow-Up To Tom Cruise’s Minority Report
Netflix is adapting Philip K. Dick’s The World Jones Made. Interestingly, Minority Report is also based on one of the author’s stories of the same name and even adopts a very similar narrative device. In both The World Jones Made and Minority Report, characters with precognition abilities are introduced.
While the precogs in Minority Report use their abilities to predict crimes before they happen, the titular precog, Floyd Jones, in The World Jones Made is able to foresee one year ahead in the future.
Both stories explore the idea of how free will becomes nothing but an illusion in a world where the future is predetermined. Through both stories, Philip K. Dick also presents the moral paradox of whether it is justifiable to punish or control individuals for events that have not even happened yet.
Since The World Jones Made brings a more political spin to the precog narrative from Minority Report and even expands its vision by introducing an alien plot, it is hard not to see it as the philosophical ancestor to the cyberpunk story.
Owing to this, even Netflix’s take on The World Jones Made, titled The Future is Ours, will come off as the perfect successor to the forgotten Tom Cruise movie.
Netflix’s The World Jones Made Adaptation Should Try To Be As Timeless As Minority Report
People with precognition abilities may not be used by the government to predict crimes in the real world, but advanced algorithms are already being used to foresee crimes. With AI growing in leaps and bounds, crime prediction might become even more normalized and disturbingly authoritative. These real-world developments highlight how timely Minority Report’s warnings are even to this day.
Netflix’s take on The World Jones Made needs to tread a similar path by walking through how the altar of predictive certainty can be both a boon and bane for humanity and gradually erode free will.
Perfect Followup To Tom Cruise’s Minority Report?
