Next (2007)

Whenever I see a Nicolas Cage film, I always think the guy is just not acting, and he plays himself, which is a little flat. While he often plays the same character, with the same persona, once in a while he finds a role that this fits the bill. Rounding out the cast of Next is Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel.

The premise of the film is that Cage is Chris Johnson, a stage magician at a second rate casino in Vegas, at a second rate show. Yeah, the guy's life is kind of mediocre, hence why Cage's persona gets the job done. However, this character does have one exceptional ability: he can see into the future. No, it's not a crystal ball type of thing, and it only gets him about two minutes ahead, but it still is kind of cool. It's also useful when he heads to the casino to supplement his income.

For some reason, as we plod ahead, Chris has a vision of meeting a woman, Liz Cooper played by Jessica Biel, at a diner at a certain time, and for whatever reason he thinks he is seeing this more than two minutes ahead which he has never done before. Add in another plot of a rogue nuclear weapon loose in the area, and we get a thriller. Hot on the tail of this soothsayer is Callie Ferris, played by Julianne Moore who thinks that Chris can tell her where the nuke is.

Many of us are always fascinated by these films that show the ability to look, or even travel into the future. I enjoyed Next because this time it was far more plausible than some overgrown time machine, although equally unrealistic. This film is reasonably acted, and plotted, and well paced. If you want to see an average attempt at the Hollywood blockbuster, than Next is a reasonable option.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas