#681 – Next (2007)
Next (2007)
Film review #681
Director: Lee Tamahori
SYNOPSIS: A small-time Las Vegas showman is being hunted by the FBI to assist in locating a nuclear weapon that is set to be exploded somewhere in the U.S.. To do this, they want to utilise the showman’s unique ability: being able to see two minutes into the future. he, however, is not interested, and is more concerned with trying to find the woman that he sees in the future, and the only person that appears further away from those two minutes…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Next is a 2007 sci-fi film loosely based on the short story “The Golden Man” by Philip K. Dick. It centres around Cris Johnson (Nicholas Cage) who is a small-time performer in Las Vegas using his secret power to see two minutes into the future. He is being hunted by the FBI to help them locate a terrorist cell that has smuggled a nuclear weapon onto U.S. soil. The plot is very simple to grasp as you can tell, but it was not always like that: originally based on Philip K. Dick’s story “The Golden Man,” the film delved more into the authoritarian themes of the novel, but following a rewrite it was very much streamlined into a typical action film with nothing to grasp at underneath that Hollywood veneer. the film starts off showing the interesting premise and sets out the stakes, and then just…goes nowhere with it. The plot holes are numerous and nothing is explained or established: How do the FBI know about Cris? Why does Cris only see beyond two minutes into the future when he sees Elizabeth (Jessica Biel)? Who are these terrorists? What’s there motivation? Who is leading them? Nothing connects to anything, and you’re left with a patchwork of sci-fi and/or thriller setups with a good few of those patches missing.
With Nicholas Cage in the lead role, the film very much feels like a typical Nicholas Cage movie. It’s difficult to say if he is the right person for the role: it certainly fits right in with the silliness of the rest of Cage’s filmography, but the issue is that he just doesn’t have any real chemistry with Jessica Biel: it just comes across as very awkward and unbelievable. Some of this may be the script not giving her any kind of character arc, and as mentioned, we are never given any kind of answer to why Cris can only see her further in the future than two minutes. There’s also the sense that Cris is never really in any peril: his powers are never challenged in any real way, even in the finale, which just involves him quickly fixing any issues that arise. It’s entertaining enough, but there’s no real stakes involved, and Cris barely breaks a sweat. The final twist, essentially undoes a good chunk of the movie, and while this could have been an interesting take, it fails to really bring about a significant change in the characters or anything. Next is pure nonsense thanks to awkward performances, next to no rationale or setup for anything or anyone, and there being so many things which seem to be missing with regards to character’s motivations or explanations for anything regarding the protagonist’s powers. It’s entertaining as far as there’s enough action to draw your attention, but the stakes are never raised too high thanks to Cris’s powers being so omnipotent. It’s a bit of fun, just don’t think too hard about it.
