Movie Review: Next

There are certain things that I just don’t believe, even in a Hollywood movie. I don’t believe casino security would be dumber, slower, and less connected than the FBI. Nor do I believe that an FBI with enough technology to make James Bond look ill-equipped would waste time and manpower finding a Vegas side show performer when a nuke was loose in LA.

Most of all, I don’t believe that Jessica Biel would ever get into a car alone with Nicolas Cage. Not ever. Not even if she was drunk. And especially not when Cage’s hair is worse than Tom Hanks’s do in The Da Vinci Code. Still, all these things are reality in Next, a bastardized, lobotomized version of the Philip K. Dick short story "The Golden Man".

Dick’s work has been adapted before into cinematic masterpieces like Blade Runner and Minority Report and into travesties like Ben Affleck’s Paycheck. Next is a new low for Dick adaptations. It’s a hollow, hyperactive sham of a film, one that wouldn’t embarrass Dick, but should embarrass the people in it.

Cage stars as Cris Johnson, a Las Vegas magician who can foresee the future — his future — but only two minutes before it happens. When a Russian nuke turns up missing, FBI Agent Callie Ferris (Julian Moore) is convinced that Johnson’s ability to do magic tricks makes him the ideal candidate for finding the nuke. Her boss, a fiery, folksy, backwoods sheriff who somehow managed to become a ranking official in the FBI, barely blinks an eye and lets Ferris loose.

Johnson did see more than two minutes into his future one time. When he did, he envisioned meeting Liz (Jessica Biel) in a Vegas diner. Liz apparently goes for weird, middle-aged men with bad hair because she quickly offers to take Johnson out of Vegas when he’s escaping from the FBI. He just wants a normal life and sees Liz as the way to it. The FBI doesn’t give up easily. Neither do the terrorists with the nuke. As he gets closer to Liz (i.e. having sex with her hours after they first meet), Johnson’s new love turns into his biggest weakness.

Article Author: Daniel J. Stasiewski

Daniel J. Stasiewski resides in Cleveland where he is the webmaster and editor of The Film Chair. He has an unhealthy obsession with movies and popular culture, for which his therapist suggested joining Blogcritics.

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