This all-new stage version of the sci-fi thriller comes with no little pedigree – it’s based on a short story by the writer (Philip K Dick) responsible for Blade Runner, directed by the man (Max Webster) behind Life of Pi, and written for the stage by the playwright (David Haig) who adapted My Boy Jack. And the source material has already been turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Tom Cruise.

All the ingredients for a smash hit then, but somehow Minority Report doesn’t get the recipe quite right. It looks great, has some decent set pieces, dynamic choreography and an energetic nine-strong cast, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that too much has been thrown into the pot, overloading and ultimately confusing the tastebuds. The futuristic backdrops and visuals – and Blade Runner-style vehicles (the constant rain also a nod to Ridley Scott’s masterpiece) – are all well and good for a story set 30 years in the future, but the movement strayed a little too close to interpretive dance for comfort, and the final scene felt like something from a traditional Agatha Christie yarn rather than hi-tech adventure.

For the record, that adventure centres on neuroscientist Dame Julia Anderton, who has developed a unique Pre-Crime programme that enables people to be detained for crimes before they are committed. She’s on the verge of expanding it to the US when she herself is accused of pre-murder and forced to go on the run to clear her name.

And run is right, because the 90-minute show is conducted at an almost entirely breakneck pace – save for a slightly laboured explanatory scene in a makeshift bedsit – which both helps and hinders the production. It’s undeniably exciting, but there’s precious little time to make any real connection to the characters, and it generally helps if we actually care what happens to them.

I should’ve cared more about chief protagonist Julia, played by Jodie McNee, but ended up paying less attention to what she was saying and more to how she was saying it. Had the character’s ignominious descent from lauded executive to wanted fugitive prompted her to switch from boardroom brogue to Scouse, or was it just the Liverpudlian actor’s own accent coming through by accident? It was genuinely difficult to tell.

McNee’s central performance provided the glue that held the show together all the same, her constant presence on the stage in marked contrast to everyone else’s hasty arrivals and departures – particularly Julia’s AI chatbot Dave (Tanvi Virmani) whose sudden appearances and disappearances provided genuine ‘how did they do that?’ moments – it just wasn’t strong enough to truly grip this viewer’s attention. That said, judging by the positive reactions from those seated around me, I may well have been in the minority...

3 stars

Reviewed by Steve Adams at The Rep on Tuesday 26 March. Minority Report runs at the venue until 6 April.