NEXT

"I made a mistake"

Cris Johnson (Cage) is a wanted man, with terrorists and the FBI hunting him down because he has something they want. The Las Vegas magician has a real gift, as he can see two minutes into the future. With the threat of a nuclear terrorist attack in Los Angeles, Agent Callie Ferris (Moore) needs him to tell him where and when the explosion will happen but Cris can only see further than two minutes into the future when he is near Liz (Biel).

Big budget, high concept movies with a big star are standard blockbuster fair but even Hollywood can see into the future to make sure they have a definite hit, can they?

Based on the short story 'The Golden Man' by science fiction legend Philip K. Dick, fans of the writer hoping for another 'Bladerunner', 'A Scanner Darkly' or 'Minority Report' will be sadly disappointed because this is basically another 'Paycheck'.

'Next', as with all Philip K. Dick based movies, has an interesting premise. The story revolves around a Las Vegas magician who has the ability to see two minutes into the future. This of course means he can anticipate everything that could possibly happen to him, helping with both this act and allowing him to earn some extra money at the tables in the city of sin. The ability has also got him noticed however by both the FBI and the terrorists who are planning an attack on Los Angeles. This premise, of course, sets up a number of big, special effects filled set pieces but the problems is that the filmmakers never saw the big wholes in the plot that the audience will see coming.

There is completely no backstory to this movie. Nicholas Cage's Cris Johnson just says he has always had this power but how the FBI and terrorists know about his ability is never explained. The connection to Liz, who allows him to see further than his two minute limit, is also not really explained, just assuming that it is their love that amplifies his power. This just makes you conclude that most of the plot is just filler to link the action sequences together.

Nicolas Cage's career has been extremely mixed since his Oscar win for 'Leaving Las Vegas' in 1995. For every hit and critically performance in movies like 'Con Air', 'The Rock', 'Adaptation' and 'World Trade Centre', he counteracts this by appearing in movies like 'The Wickerman', '8mm' and 'Gone in Sixty Seconds'. 'Next' however, is right bang in the middle, been not great but not 'The Wickerman' bad. This is Nicholas Cage in autopilot and sporting another comedy mullet, but it isn't as bad as the one from 'Con Air'. The rest of the cast don't really push the acting to new levels. Jessica Biel needs to leave the big movies behind and return to smaller roles before she becomes labelled as just an extremely sexy love interest. Julianne Moore tries her hand at another big budget blockbuster but she deserves a lot better than this and Thomas Kretschmann doesn't make much of a villain.

'Next' is a big budget, high concept, typical Hollywood blockbuster wannabe that forgets about the key thing that modern audiences expect, a coherent story. With no explanations and a complete lack of backstory, the plot is basically a way of connecting the impressive, time altering action scenes together. It is just a shame you can't see into the future yourself and miss out the boring plot filler.

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Minority Report

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2007