Minority Report's Sci-Fi Hoverpack Scene Was Surprisingly Real (And Dangerous)

"Minority Report" was shot before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, but you wouldn't know it. Director Steven Spielberg's 2002 adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1956 sci-fi novella "The Minority Report" plays almost like a direct response to the post-9/11 War on Terror, in particular the Bush doctrine of preemptive strikes. Set in a version of 2054 where three psychics known as "precogs" are used to locate and arrest people before they commit murder, "Minority Report" wrestles with the concept of free will, in the process raising big questions about due process and profiling. Even the movie's "happy" ending leaves some room for uncertainty about what's to come in the future.

At the same time, "Minority Report" is a blast and a half. Amidst its many weird, creepy moments and noir mystery plot, Spielberg serves up some of the most whiz-bang action scenes he's ever directed. From a bare-knuckle brawl in the middle of a car factory assembly line to a foot chase across a vertical highway of automated vehicles, it's off to the races once our protagonist, John Anderton (Tom Cruise), is accused of being destined to become one of the very murderers he's supposed to be thwarting and goes on the lam. This is Spielberg making his version of an Alfred Hitchcock man-on-the-run thriller, and he excels at it.

One particularly standout sequence finds John cornered in a street alley by several officers in hoverpacks, which he proceeds to either commandeer or use against them. Obviously, there's CGI in play, but for the most part, the sequence relies on old-school practical trickery to send people flying through the air, swinging around fire escapes, or crashing through apartment walls and ceilings. It wasn't quite as dangerous to pull off as it looks, but it was more than a little risky nonetheless.

Cruise hadn't reached the point of hanging off literal planes just yet when he made "Minority Report." Still, it should come as no surprise that the A-lister whose pictures are, presumably, contractually obligated to include at least one scene of him running would play a fugitive for Spielberg. Ol' Tommy Boy probably would've insisted on shooting the hoverpack scene in an actual street alley, too, had that been plausible.

In a behind-the-scenes video, "Minority Report" production designer Alex McDowell said the movie's crew eventually realized filming in a real location would've been "completely impractical" given the rigging needed to shoot the scene practically. Instead, they built a matching set on a Warner Bros. backlot. It "wasn't a direct match, but it allowed the grips to build, 30 feet above our rig, the most incredible flying stunt rig," McDowell explained.

Adding to that, special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri said they used "miles upon miles of truss and wire [...] so that we could travel six to eight people at different speeds, different heights, along with the camera, up and down, dragging on the ground, pulling straight up, falling straight down." Meanwhile, Spielberg confirmed that Cruise still found a way to get his falling-induced adrenaline fix:

"All the high falls where he jumped off the building and grabbed one of the pre-crime cops that was coming to arrest him, that was all Tom. He did all those high jumps."

The final result plays like gangbusters; characters get tossed up, down, left, and right at terrifying speeds, all of which Spielberg and his trusty cinematographer Janusz Kamiński capture in clear, striking compositions. "Yes there was wire removal, yes there was an enhancement on the jetpacks, we were putting the flame, but pretty much what you see happened in real life," Kamiński added.