"Here's the thing about the future: Every time you look at it, it changes, because you looked at it. And that changes everything else." --Nicolas Cage, "Next"
"Next" is a "what if." You know, one of those movies that poses some sort of weird, off-the-wall question that becomes the main idea. In this case it's about a guy who can foretell what's going to happen several minutes into the future. So, what if somebody could really do that? Wouldn't the government and police be interested in using such a person to help them prevent wrongdoing?
Yeah, I know, some of you are going to say it's not much of a "what if" because you believe that a few people actually can divine the future. We've all watched the cable-channel documentaries about psychics solving crimes or folks like Sylvia Browne receiving the secrets of the universe from a spirit guide.
Well, that's all beside the point in 2007's "Next," which requires only that you suspend your disbelief and go with the premise. If you are able to do so, that is; in this case, it's a stretch. The movie is about man able to see events a few moments ahead of time and the FBI asking him to help them by using his talent to prevent a terrorist nuclear attack on Los Angeles. So not only is "Next" a "what if" movie, it's a gimmick movie, too. As I say, suspending your disbelief on this one is going to be tough.
Nicolas Cage plays the guy with the psychic power, Cris Johnson, whom the police find working his act as a shabby Las Vegas magician under the stage name "Frank Cadillac." It's a typical role for Cage at this point in his career. His friend Sean Penn once famously remarked that "Nic Cage is no longer an actor. He's more like a performer." We can understand the comment in light of Cage's performance here. He just goes through the motions in this outlandish but otherwise standard-issue thriller.
The filmmakers based the movie on a short story, "The Golden Man," by Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer, the late Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Minority Report," "Scanner Darkly"), but beyond the basic idea, they didn't appear to do much with it except turn it into one long chase. The director is Lee Tamahori, whose previous film credits include "xXx: State of the Union," "Die Another Day," "Along Came a Spider," and "Mulholland Falls," so we know where he's coming from.
The problem is that nothing in the story makes any logical sense. Things begin with Johnson using his psychic power to make a few bucks as a lounge magician in Las Vegas. He is able to do this real magic with his mind, but he pretends it's a fake magic act. He can only know things that touch his own immediate future, but isn't that enough to set him up for life? He says he works for peanuts because he doesn't want to draw any attention to himself, wants to go unnoticed, but knowing two minutes ahead at roulette or lotto could net him millions of dollars at one shot, and then he could retire for life. So, right away we wonder if the guy isn't just a little dense. Then, we find out: He is more than a little dense.
At the very beginning of the movie, Johnson sees ahead that a fellow at the casino's cashier window has a gun and is going to kill two people. Johnson immediately takes action, disarms the man, and saves two lives. But the casino security guards only see him with a gun in his hand, standing over a prostrate figure. They think Johnson is the culprit and try to apprehend him. Now, what would anyone's natural reaction be? To explain that he had just disarmed the guy, right? And the security cameras, which are everywhere, would quickly prove he was telling the truth. Instead, for no apparent reason, Johnson runs, and using his mental ability, he easily eludes the security people in the casino and then the police on the road. The purpose, as far as I could tell, was merely to have an extended car chase at the start of the film. No other reason for it, and dumb. Even if Johnson escaped, where would he go? He could never practice his magic act again, and he'd be forever hiding from the cops. All for nothing. The guy was a hero, so what was he thinking?
Anyway, as I said, there is this terrorist group that has stolen a Russian nuclear bomb and somehow brought it to Los Angeles, and the FBI want Johnson to use his psychic powers to find it. How did the FBI learn about Johnson's magical powers? Anybody's guess. An FBI agent, Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), just has a gut feeling that Johnson is the real McCoy. Ferris is a hard-as-nails type who is not above trying to blackmail Johnson to get his help. Yet, how has she even heard of him? It's a mystery. So the FBI are going to try to save the lives of millions of people on one agent's hunch.
Still, Johnson will have none of it. Even after Callie catches up with him and explains that she knows he's innocent of the casino incident and that millions of lives are at stake if he doesn't help her, Johnson refuses to cooperate. Again, why? The answer can only be for the sake of the plot. So he can run again, this time from the FBI.
Yet that's not all. Somehow, the baddies also know about Johnson and his psychic abilities, and they are chasing him, too, trying to kill him before he stumbles onto their plot. And how did the villains learn about Johnson? Maybe they're psychic, too.
Along the way, Johnson meets a beautiful girl, Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel), and she becomes a romantic interest in the story, as well as a damsel in distress. Why else is she there? Again, only for the good of extending the story's conflict. You've got to have a beautiful romantic interest in distress, even if she has nothing to do with anything else in the plot. It's like Peter's Falk's character, Irv, who shows up for two minutes and then disappears. "Look," you'll say, "there's Peter Falk." Who's Irv? We never find out. He's either an old friend of Johnson's or an old relative. But it doesn't matter. It's almost a cameo role, and like much of the rest of the film, it's meaningless.
HD DVD REVIEW
By John J. Puccio (www.dvdtown.com)
FIRST PUBLISHED Sep 14, 2007
~ Tom Welling, Kristin Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, and Annette O'Toole (DVD - 2007)
