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2-MINUTE WARNING: Nicolas Cage is a psychic who sees the very near future in the chaotic thriller 'Next'

2-MINUTE WARNING: Nicolas Cage is a psychic who sees the very near future in the chaotic thriller 'Next'
Jim Borowski  |  by www.freep.com. All rights reserved. 11.05 | 8:38

Rated PG-13; violence, language
1 hour, 37 minutes

April 27, 2007
I have seen the future, and so has everyone else if they watch TV and go to the movies. The latest excursion comes courtesy of "Next," which manages to be entertaining despite the flexible standards of contemporary sci-fi.
"Next" stars Nicolas Cage, who prefers movies that run way over the cliffs of logic ("Ghost Rider," "The Wicker Man") to those that stay grounded.

Yet the cursed psychic that Cage plays in "Next" is the most credible character in a movie that at more than one point heads off in multiple directions.
That's because, as Vegas showroom magician Frank Cadillac, aka Cris Johnson (Cage), informs us early in the movie, the problem with looking into the future is that every time you do, you change it. His own future begins to go awry when, while exploiting his limited talents -- Cris can see no more than 2 minutes beyond the present -- at a casino, he sees a double murder about to happen, and in preventing it, puts cops and killers on his trail.


Law enforcement is represented by FBI agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore, recycling her hard-nosed portrayal of Clarice Starling from "Hannibal"), who has five days to find a gang of terrorists. Though "Next" never explains how, Ferris has become convinced that Cris is able to see into the future and needs him to use his gift to save millions of Americans. Cris, for reasons equally hazy, refuses to cooperate even after Ferris straps him into one of those mind-revealing devices that regularly crop up in films ("Total Recall," "Minority Report").


The story is based on the fiction of the visionary Philip K. Dick; "Next" was adapted from his story "The Golden Man."
Part of Cris' resistance has to do with a woman named Liz (Jessica Biel), who Cris is convinced will be his soul mate when he finally makes her acquaintance.

(The manner in which this occurs makes for one of the film's most clever uses of future-gazing.) Once Cris and Liz get involved in the mayhem that follows, it is often as exciting as it is unintelligible.
Directed by New Zealand transplant and action stylist Lee Tamahori ("Die Another Day"), "Next" is the work of at least three credited screenwriters, who often look to have no idea what the others are doing.

And while it is dicey to speculate on such things, it bears many of the tell-tale lapses common to films that have been reworked after the end of production.
It also has an ending that is unlikely to satisfy anyone except those who claim to prefer it when there is no solution.
If you can put all that aside, you may still have a good time -- or three or four good times.

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Keywords: Nicolas Cage
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