It's been a while since I saw the movie version of this short tale by Philip K. Dick, but I now have it on order from the library so that I can watch it again. Although it's been 13 years since I've seen the movie (starring Tom Cruise), I recall it well enough to know that it is quite different from its source material. And while this doesn't usually happen with film adaptations, I think this is one of those cases where the filmmakers vastly improved upon the original story. I was terribly disappointed. That might not be fair to Philip K. Dick, but I'm afraid it can't be helped. Spoilers below.
As those familiar with this story know, the premise is that crime has been virtually eliminated because of a police unit called Precrime, which relies on three clairvoyant mutants who have visions foretelling the future, and whose visions are loaded into a computer system that translates them into "reports." These visions foretell crimes before the would-be offenders have a chance to offend, and those people are locked away before the idea to offend has a chance to develop in their heads. John Anderton, head of Precrime, has the shocking discovery of the precogs predicting that he will murder a man named Kaplan. As he has no intention of ever doing so, he pulls the report and goes on the run. It turns out that Kaplan is part of a movement to discredit Precrime, and he means to have Anderton stand by his side as he reveals the contents of the majority report as well as the minority report. (If two of the precogs have one vision and the third has a different one,t he different one is the minority report.) In Anderton's case, the minority report comes about because it takes into account Anderton finding out about the report and making the decision not to kill Kaplan. But as Kaplan is making his speech, Anderton takes out a gun and really does kill Kaplan. Why? To prevent Precrime from being discredited. I absolutely hate that ending. Anderton ultimately explains that in his case, there were actually three different reports--all minority reports. Two of them had him killing Kaplan, but the third was based on his having read the second and changing his mind back to killing Kaplan. Yes, to save Precrime. I AM DISAPPOINT!
(show spoiler)