‘Next’ is a breathless, thrill a minute, one damn thing after another, barn burner of a movie that doesn’t stop long enough to let you contemplate its inconsistencies.
My advice is to just hang on for the ride.
The film is yet another based on the works of famed pulp author Philip K. Dick (‘Blade Runner’ ‘A Scanner Darkly’ ‘Total Recall’). The movies love Dick’s unbounded imagination, rigorous plot peregrinations and average Joe heroes – heroes who usually have special gifts.
‘Next’ is based on one of his short stories, “The Golden Man.”
Our hero is Chris Johnson (Nicholas Cage), a cheesy Las Vegas magician. Chris is hiding his real gift behind his crummy rabbit-out-of-a-hat act – he can see into the future.
But only 2 minutes into the future.
He supports himself as best he can by his sad act while winning small amounts at the poker tables and carrying a low profile. But not low enough.
The FBI are onto him and when rogue terrorists target Los Angeles for an atomic explosion the Feds, lead by a hard headed Julianne Moore, want to take advantage of his unique talents to ferret the bombers out.
Wanting no part of their scheme, he takes to the road with Liz, (Jessica Biel), a woman he searches out when he falls in love with her in a vision of the future.
He doesn’t know why but when he is with her he can see even farther into the future.
His gift leads to some intense action and often-hilarious scenes. In one, he pacifies a lout intent of beating him up by simply stepping around his wild punches. He can move out of the way of bullets fired at him. In one spectacular set piece he dodges hurtling hunks of a massive avalanche while running down the side of a mountain.
Besides the FBI, the two are pursued by the mysterious terrorists who see them as a threat.
The film builds to a fierce shoot out that is not only well staged but makes ingenious use of Cage’s prophetic abilities.
‘Next’ is directed by New Zealand’s Lee Tamahori who has honed his chops in gritty family drama (‘Once Were Warriors’) and big budget shoot-em-ups (‘Die Another Day’). Tamahori certainly knows how to stage furious action sequences and manages to pull a few quiet moments of intimacy from his two stars between his dexterous action set pieces.
Cage moves rather catatonically through his role – I guess he has been down this road once too often – but the film hurtles by at such a pace you hardly notice. Biel continues to impress on the big screen getting as much from the woman-in-peril role as the writers Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh and Paul Bernbaum are willing to throw to her. The actress manages to overcome the carnage going on around her to deliver an effective performance.
The usually demure Julianne Moore stalks around the set firing off orders and cussing out her team convincingly, in the sort of role usually reserved for Rip Torn or Tommy Lee Jones.
The movies may be in a holding pattern waiting for the big tent-pole pictures of the summer but if you need a jolt of pre-Spidey action you could do far worse than this knowledgeable, finely crafted and terrifically exciting action-sci-fi thriller.
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