Nicholas Cage and Jessica Biel star in Next

the story

Cris Johnson is a magician who works an act at a Vegas casino as Frank Cadillac. Aside from his amazing slight of hand, Cris hides a secret from the world about an outstanding ability he possesses, he can see into the future - two minutes ahead. He has been able to conceal this trait pretty successfully (or so he thought) up until recently. One night as he is playing (and cheating) at blackjack at one of the casinos, the pit boss and crew get suspicious at his ability to win. Luckily, Cris is able to keep two steps, I mean minutes ahead of the game, and he makes an escape. Yet not before he chooses to stop a thief who murders two people. The whole thing is caught on the surveillance tape, and this confirms FBI agent Callie Ferris' suspicions of Cris's abilities.

The FBI is interested in his services, because they know that there is a band of foreign white terrorists that are planning to blow up most of California with a smuggled nuke. So now the hunt is on for Callie and her force to try and catch Cris so that maybe he could help stop the event from happening. Meanwhile, the terrorists are watching the FBI, and when they notice that the feds are interested in Cris Johnson, they also begin chasing him, just in case he is someone who could bring him down.

Meanwhile, Cris finally catches up to the woman of his dreams. Although he is only able to see two minutes into his future, when it comes to the beautiful Liz Cooper, he has been seeing her arrival for days at a specific coffee house, and at a precise time of day. When he finally meets her, he charms her and the two take a road trip. When he sees that the terrorists plan to kidnap and murder Liz, that's when Cris goes to the feds and agrees to help with their case.

Will Cris be able to help the Feds and save his girl at the same time? Are his amazing, yet limited abilities enough to do the job? Will the FBI dissect his brain anyway even though he agrees to help? Find out when you watch the sci-fi thriller Next!



the breakdown

The first thing my wife and I wondered about was how could he live in the present, when he is constantly two minutes ahead of the rest of us? My theory is that it’s best not to worry about things of that nature, especially when there is so much more to the movie to enjoy. You could never figure it out anyway.

Nick Cage (Ghost Rider, National Treasure) portrays Cris Johnson in the lead role. He seems to have adopted a Gene Simmons style of hairdo (dyed black, thinning, and brushed back into a wiry mess) in his vision of a typical Vegas magician. The character’s demeanor was that almost of a reluctant superhero, much in the same vein as Bruce Willis was in the movie Unbreakable. He didn’t mind helping himself, but he also seemed to feel inclined to help other people as well. He keeps his abilities secret though because he wishes to avoid at all costs, the hours upon days upon months of testing and questioning that goes along with people knowing about his brain. This is the only reason he was running for most of the movie from the FBI.

Jessica Biel (I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry) in the role of Liz is charming which is mainly due to her great looks. As usual Jessica is stunning on the screen and it’s hard to give her any unbiased criticism when I’m stuck in a trance whenever she’s appears in the film. Julianne Moore (The Forgotten, Boogie Nights) plays Callie Ferris, the FBI super agent. She is very believable as the woman in charge, very demanding, unfeeling and is not afraid to be a bit b!tchy when she needs to be. She reminds me of some upper management over me that I’ve had in the past.

I am a sucker for just about all movies that have to do with time travel, especially when it’s a personal power as it is in this film. I understand that it seems far fetched at times, but the whole premise is far fetched, this is sci-fi after all, isn’t it? For me, there were just the right amount of fake-outs for stuff that seemed to happen, but in actuality we were looking through Cris Johnson’s brain into the future. I understand there may have been one too many for some of the audience, but I for one loved it all. If there was one criticism I have, it’s that we didn’t see enough of his abilities. I didn't even mind the political correctness of portraying the terrorists as white foreigners with indistinguishable accents mixed with white Americans. I believe the terrorists would have been scarier, more threatening and more believable if the terrorists fit the image of today's racial profiling terrorist. This was a fantastic film, with edge of your seat action and exciting fun.




Next
Directed by: Lee Tamahori (xXx: State of the Union, Along Came a Spider)
Written by: Gary Goldman (Total Recall) / Jonathan Hensleigh (Jumanji, The Saint)
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel
Released: 2007
Length: 96 Minutes
Rated: PG-13
My Rating: 4 stars