A man with the ability to see the future and change the outcome of events before they occur is forced to choose between saving himself and saving the world in this supernatural thriller starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day, The Edge). Cris Johnson (Cage) is a Las Vegas magician who possesses the unique ability to witness the events of the immediate future moments before they happen. As a child Cris was subjected to a series of cruel experiments by government
scientists and doctors, but a change of name and a new identity allowed the tortured psychic to elude detection and start a new life away from the prying eyes of his former captors. Though his clairvoyant vision only extends a few minutes into the future, it has still allowed Cris to eke out a living as a low-rent Las Vegas magician while earning a little extra cash at the blackjack tables. Up to this point in his life Cris has never used his power for anything substantial, but when he experiences a vision of Los Angeles being incinerated in a nuclear holocaust, the small-time magician realizes that he could hold the key to saving millions of lives. But as low as he has tried to lie in recent years, Cris has never completely escaped detection by the government. Now, as terrorists prepare to unleash the ultimate horror on an unsuspecting city, FBI counter terror agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) sets out to capture Cris and convince him to use his exceptional gift to prevent the nuclear nightmare from becoming a terrifying reality. Jessica Biel, Peter Falk, and Thomas Kretschmann co-star in the film, which is based on a short story by acclaimed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Next features Nicolas Cage as a clairvoyant who can see events before they occur. If anyone on the production team had similar abilities, they could have foreseen that the film was a folly in the making.
About as far from the actual Philip K. Dick short story ("The Golden Man") that it was adapted from as possible, Next is nominal action movie fodder at best.
NEXT had lots of neat and visually stunning effects, but they were mostly used to tell us, "Look what we can do with our CGI. Ain't it cool?" Yeah, it's "cool" all right, if you really want to call it that, but Nicolas Cage, your acting skills were terrible, and there was rarely any plot in this one, either.
August 4, 2011
Alexander Diminiano
Super Reviewer
I'm torn about movies like this. Sure, I enjoyed the action moves - like when Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) does his Neo-like moves. But I need movies to be consistent. If Cris can see two minutes in advance, base the story on that. Somehow, by the end of the movie, Cris is seeing weeks in advance. And they do the
"Cris-gets-killed-in-this-sequence-but-this-one-turns-out-to-be-a-sequence-in-his-mind" more than once. I down-rated the movie a full star for its unsatisfying ending.
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