Five Steven Spielberg Movies That Could Be Considered ‘Underrated’

Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report was definitely before its time. Critics at the time thought it was too complex and conceptual for general audiences and so didn’t review it as favourably across the board. Luckily, this intellectual gatekeeping from film critics has dissipated, especially in a post-Christopher Nolan cinematic world, and audiences can make up their own decision what they can understand and enjoy.

This is one of Spielberg’s finest films. The concept of Precrime, taken from the Philip K. Dick short story “The Minority Report,” asks some interesting questions that are still hugely relevant today. Will an impending murder be inevitable, or can a person change their mind? At what cost does a government keep its society safe? The relationship between free will and determinism. The ideas around the concept and the ethics of this could keep you talking for a long time.

Not only that, the future presented in this 2054 dystopia is one of constant surveillance, personalized advertising, and a surrendering of rights. Although these were creeping into society at the start of the 21st century, we can look back and see how much the film got right and how society was starting to use technology and data for the ‘good’ of its people.

Tom Cruise is excellent as John Anderton, a Precrime chief officer who goes on the run after finding he will be the perpetrator of a homicide. Samantha Morton as the pre-cog Agatha, who is taken so Anderton can extract the minority report, is also compelling.

It is in equal measures exciting and interesting with excellent, action sequences. The jetpack scene, the car production line, and the more tense and quieter spider scene where the audience waits with bated breath whether Anderton will be discovered. Spielberg delivers an exceptional science-fiction thriller that has aged beautifully in the last several decades.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

If you didn’t like The Lost World: Jurassic Park when you first saw it, I’d recommend seeing it again. I think because it was doing something so different to Jurassic Park (1993) that people found it jarring. It was a lot darker and focused more on the conflict between the people observing the animals and those hunting them.

It’s interesting that Spielberg and the film’s writer David Koepp waited for author Michael Crichton to write a sequel before they began production on The Lost World because they use very little from the source text. Instead, the plot revolves around John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) sending a team containing Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to Site B, Isla Sorna. There they would document the behaviours of the dinosaurs. This would provide support for a policy of non-interference. However, Hammond’s nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard) aims to capture the dinosaurs and use them to save Ingen from bankruptcy.

There are some great performances here. Pete Postlewaite as the big-game hunter Roland Tembo is superb and have a wonderful monologue on the hunting plains. Julianne Moore is fantastic as Sarah Harding. Jeff Goldblum plays his Ian Malcolm very differently to the first film. He is a man that has had his reputation tarnished and been called a liar since his revelations about the first island were not believed by the public. This has affected him, and we see it in a much world-weary Malcolm that Jurassic Park.

The visual effects are still outstanding. The use of Stan Winston’s iconic models blends seamlessly with the CGI which are still being used to complement each other at this stage of filmmaking. Seeing the huge T-Rex head enter a tent at night is so great to watch, as are the raptor scenes. Remember, “Don’t go into the long grass!”

Spielberg delivers the tension in The Lost World, and some could argue this is no longer a family adventure and more an action thriller movie. The suspense is masterfully done though. The T-Rex’s pushing the trailer over the cliff is an iconic Spielberg set-piece as Julianne Moore hovers over the cracking glass. The Lost World is well worth seeing again.

The Terminal (2004)

A really lovely story about Victor Navorski, who is trapped inside New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport when he is simultaneously denied entry into the United States whilst a military coup stops him returning to his homeland of Krakozhia. He makes a home in the airport, sleeps in the terminal, and survives on a diet of crackers and condiments.

Stanley Tucci’s Frank Dixon, the Acting Field Commissioner of the airport, wants him to leave one way or another and make it the problem of another authority. Tucci plays the role fantastically. The longer Navorski stays in the airport, the more Dixon’s exasperation increases.

It is a great feel-good film as Navorski attempts to strike up a relationship with Catherine Zeta-Zones’ flight attendant Amelia Warren. He brings happiness and friendship to those around him and plays matchmaker to Zoe Saldana and Diego Luna in some early roles from them.

It might not have received the acclaim it deserved because it is different from the epic scope we expect from Spielberg films, but it is a great watch and worth seeing.

The Post (2017)

Although it was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, it seems like The Post is still underseen. It follows the story of the publication of the Pentagon Papers by The Washington Post and the decisions and consequences that accompany it. The Pentagon Papers are a set of classified documents that state the involvement of the US Government during the Vietnam War.

The Post follows the journalists as they dig through pages upon pages of documents regarding the conflict before being met with super-injunctions and threats to their career upon any publication of these secrets to the public.

It doesn’t sound massively thrilling when writing the synopsis down on paper, but Spielberg manages to make it work. There are real consequences to decisions and the audience feels there is a justice that needs to be done.

This is an actors’ movie and there are great performances across the board. Meryl Streep plays Katharine Graham, the owner and publisher of The Washington Post. She is a woman constantly being given advice by men but stands her own. Tom Hanks is fantastic as Ben Bradlee, who she hires as her executive editor. But there is a complete ensemble of talent in the supporting cast including Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Paulson, Alison Brie, Jesse Plemons, Zach Woods, Matthew Rhys, Carrie Coon, David Cross, and so many more.

Watch The Post if you didn’t catch it at the time. Also, the final scene leads very nicely to All The President’s Men (1976) so why not do a double bill?

Hook (1990)

It’s a great shame that Spielberg sees this as his failure as a director because Hook is a movie which holds a special place in many people’s hearts. In 2013, he told Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo "I wanna see Hook again because I so don't like that movie, and I'm hoping someday I'll see it again and perhaps like some of it." He believes he didn’t know where he was going with the movie and to supplement this lack of faith, he over-stylized Neverland and went all in on the production design.

To be fair to him, it’s not easy to make a live-action Peter Pan film and attempts such as Peter Pan (2003), Pan (2015) and Peter Pan & Wendy (2023) have all failed to deliver financially or critically. But there are great things about this movie, and I believe it is a fantastic film still. Maybe nostalgia blinds us sometimes to the films we saw during childhood, but that does not detract that you like them.

It’s an interesting take on the fairy tale. Robin William’s Peter is a corporate lawyer with no time for his kids. He has grown up and forgot all about his time in Neverland. When his children are kidnapped by Hook (Dustin Hoffman) he must remember life before he became a workaholic with the help of Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts) and the lost boys.

Hook is entertaining, funny and full of energy. Hoffman is brilliant and inhabits the role of Captain Hook so well. Whether it’s putting a pirate played by Glenn Close in the Boo Box, monologing to Smee (Bob Hoskins) about wanting war then putting a gun to his head, or enjoying a baseball game, he is brilliant. Robin Williams is restrained before being able to show more of his true self.

Hook shouldn’t be Spielberg’s shame at all. It is a fun and entertaining movie that has some flaws but has a lot of great bits too.