Two days ago I saw the science-fiction action movie Next.
Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) is the main character in this movie and he has an extraordinary gift: he can watch two minutes into the future. He’s hiding under an alias in Las Vegas because he was sick of all the examinations he underwent as a kid and has a job as an illusionist.
One day two FBI agents are watching him, they are trying to prevent a terrorist group from detonating a nuclear bomb in LA and believe Cris may be able to help them to catch these terrorists. The agents who are secretly observing him are quite sceptical about his abilities but after a series of events (including a car chase) they become convinced that Cris could help them.
Callie Ferris, one of the agents, tries to arrest Cris but minutes before she arrives Cris already knows she’s coming. He doesn’t want to get arrested and doesn’t want to help the FBI so he decided to run away. While he’s on the run he meets Liz (Jessica Biel), a girl he’s already seen in his visions for years.
He wants to know why he’s been seeing this girl in his visions and decides he wants to know more about her. He’s a total stranger to her but thanks to his ability to watch into the future it’s quite easy for Cris to come up with a way to win Liz’s heart.
Meanwhile the terrorists somehow learn of the FBI’s intentions to catch them with the help of Cris and they are now after Cris as well. Although the movie contains some nice twists some of the events that follow are pretty predictable, Cris and Liz fall in love and somehow Cris is forced to help the FBI.
I enjoyed watching this movie, it was pretty exciting and featured lots of action. The biggest thing I disliked about this movie is the ending, Next ends with a big twist that I didn’t see coming and I think the movie ended way too abruptly. I also found the movie’s story lacks some depth. For instance, the terrorists don’t really get a proper introduction. The movie doesn’t explain the motive of these terrorists – who speak a mix of English, French and Russian. By the end of the film it’s still a total mystery to the viewer why these bad guys were plotting to nuke a city.
The concept of Next is pretty exciting but could use some extra work to turn it into something great. The quite lame ending created a big anticlimax and that’s the reason why I’m going to give this movie only a 6/10.
2 responses to “Next review”
I love nick cage! i would go see it just for him lol he’s one of my favorite actors. great review bud
It just seems to me like Nick Cage is just doing his Elvis impersonation in every one of his films.