NEXT
Next
Rated: PG-13
Special Features:
Making the Best Next Thing
The Next "Grand Idea"
Two Minutes in the Future with
Jessica Biel
Visualizing the Next Move
Running Time: 96 minutes
Poor
Nicolas Cage. He has been in such a cinematic lull lately that if the new
National Treasure
film that is coming out in December isn’t good, he should consider retiring.
Next could be the final picture in his trilogy of crap after the terrible remake of
The Wicker Man (Widescreen Unrated/Rated Edition)
and what has been argued as one of the worst Marvel comic movies ever made,
Ghost Rider. Don’t get me wrong, the idea behind
Next is clever and well conceived. It is based on the Philip K. Dick short story
The Golden Man. Dick’s work is no stranger to Hollywood. He had huge success with his stories that were made into the feature films, Minority Report and Total Recall. The development and execution of this short story into a feature film is where it misses its mark.
Cage plays Cris, a magician who has the power to see things that will affect his life, but only up to two minutes in the future. He hides this power with a hokey show in Vegas, which we find out in one of the featurettes was Cage’s addition to story and a great one at that. He plays the slot machines he knows will win and then foils a robbery attempt before it happens. Callie Ferris (
Julianne Moore), has learned of Cris and his abilities and approaches him to help the FBI foil a nuclear attack. Cris is able to escape the interaction because of his abilities and a manhunt for him ensues. We also learn Cris has become obsessed with a girl Liz (
Jessica Biel) he has seen, and goes to the same diner at the same time every day waiting for her to show. When she does, Cris approaches her to get shot down; but because of his power, he can keep doing it over and over until the right outcome is achieved. He befriends Liz. She offers to drive him where he needs to go and a romantic connection develops. The terrorists who are looking to set off the nuclear bomb are also aware of Cris and his abilities and try to kill him. This long, confusing and dull chase gets drawn out over the length of the movie as the terrorists kidnap Liz to lure Cris to them. In the end, Liz is rescued but we learn Cris messed up on one of the moves he made and the nuclear bomb goes off and kills them all. The film then rolls back to an earlier point and we realize that he gets to do the whole movie over and fix the mistake he made. The thing is, the director and screenwriters felt you didn’t need to see the resolution as the film ends with Callie and Cris driving off to stop the terrorists. Even a scene of Jessica Biel dripping wet in a towel after a shower is not enough to make this film worth it. I wish I had Cris’ powers and could have seen 96 minutes into the future to know not to even start watching this film.
The special features aren’t much in this DVD. It consists of four different featurettes looking at different points of the film. There is a behind the scenes on the making of the picture, a look at the visual effects and team that made them as well as one with Jessica Biel telling you what she would do if she could see two minutes in the future. The most interesting featurete (and the most beautiful one) is the one that shows the cast and crew filming inside the Grand Canyon. In a small subplot to the story, we learn Liz teaches some Native American children English in her spare time. This reservation is deep inside the Grand Canyon and the cast and crew need to be airlifted in and out via helicopter. This is another addition Cage brought to the film as it is a place he has visited and even where he took his current wife on their first date. The visuals inside the Canyon are truly breathtaking and beautiful and are the only parts of this film worth seeing.
