For better or worse, Next always has its eye on a perky pace and the occasional bubble-gum snap of amusement.
Next (2007)
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Reviews Counted:124
Fresh:36
Rotten:88
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: Numerous plot holes and poorly motivated characters prevent Next from being the thought-provoking sci-fi flick it could've been.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for intense sequences of violent action, and some language
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins 8 secs
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Apr 27, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $17,993,461
Synopsis: In the years since his novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? was brought to the screen as BLADE RUNNER (1982), Philip K. Dick's paranoid, futuristic works have frequently made the same... In the years since his novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? was brought to the screen as BLADE RUNNER (1982), Philip K. Dick's paranoid, futuristic works have frequently made the same leap---sometimes as brainy puzzlers (OPEN YOUR EYES, A SCANNER DARKLY), but more often as star-powered action vehicles (TOTAL RECALL, PAYCHECK). NEXT (based very loosely on Dick's short story "The Golden Man") falls squarely in the latter category, with always-game Nicolas Cage as Cris Johnson, a man with the ability to see two minutes into the future. Afraid that all sorts of frightening demands will be made on him if the true scope of his ability becomes known, Johnson limits the use of his powers to a hokey, third-rate Vegas stage show and reading slot machines to gauge their payouts. Meanwhile, terrorists have imported a nuclear device into the U.S., with the intention of detonating it in a major metropolitan area, and F.B.I. agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) has discovered that Cris's ability is no fake and that he might be able to prevent the disaster. Unfortunately for Cris, he has just met Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel), a gorgeous schoolteacher who gets more involved in this international intrigue than she had any intention to. Lee Tamahori (DIE ANOTHER DAY) keeps NEXT's action coming at an admirable clip, fully exploiting the film's gimmick of several possible outcomes to every major crossroads that Cris encounters. Enough things explode, drive fast, and roll down hillsides to satiate any action fan looking for a well-oiled thrill machine. Cage and Moore are their usual likeable screen personas, Biel's Liz Cooper is a suitably crushworthy romantic interest, and Mark Isham's (CRASH, THE BLACK DAHLIA) score provides perfect accompaniment to the proceedings. [More]
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann, Tory Kittles, Peter Falk
Director: Lee Tamahori
Director: Lee Tamahori
Screenwriter: Jonathan Hensleigh, Paul Bernbaum, Gary Goldman
Producer: Nicolas Cage, Norm Golightly, Todd Garner, Arne L. Schmidt, Graham King
Composer: Mark Isham
Producer: Nicolas Cage
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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Reviews for Next
There are lots of crimes a movie can commit -- being boring, being nonsensical, being implausible, being irrelevant -- but it's the rare movie that can commit all of them in the space of 90 minutes.
Next forces you to not just suspend your disbelief but take it out back and shoot it in the head.
Featuring a bare bones script that relies completely on the strength of its premise and not its characters, Next also has the courtesy to not overstay its welcome.
Straddles a fence between adequately clever and surprisingly stupid ... but most of it is still fun anyway.
Once you know the rules, it's hardly worth playing. Especially when you find out you've been tricked.
Late in the movie, Cris shouts at a bad guy, 'I've seen every possible ending here. None of them are good for you.' It's as if he's talking to the audience, and alas, he's right.
Does nothing with its intriguing premise, and it's mostly just one more tedious and progressively dumb collection of Hollywood action clichés.
It [explores] different facets of its premise and transforms itself into a fairly competent suspense thriller.
Not overly ambitious, Next nonetheless keeps you thinking, guessing and entertained.
Cage is cool, quiet and a touch melancholy as Johnson -- carrying the burden of his gift with a brooding brow and a ready punch line.
Who are these terrorists, aside from an unexplained coalition of French, Germans and Asians? Why are they trying to destroy Los Angeles? Was it because of X-Men 3?
It doesn't have the momentum, the quick-wittedness, to keep us wondering what's going to happen next.
It’s too bad that Mr. Cage couldn’t tap into those powers to save himself from another bad choice in roles.
Next, which makes National Treasure look like a model of narrative logic, is almost beyond criticism.
A routine action film with strange bits of surreal time-flopping mixed in.
The torpid Next may actually trump Paycheck as the worst film based on a story by the late, highly regarded, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick.
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