Review: Next

Nic Cage, a Vegas magician who can apparently see two minutes into the future, is recruited by hardened federal agent Julianne Moore to thwart a terrorist plot (headed by an underwhelming Thomas Kretschmann) before the nuclear bomb they’ve stolen, goes off. Jessica Biel (never looking prettier, in my view) plays the pretty young woman whom Cage keeps seeing in visions that appear to be in contradiction to the two minute rule the rest of his visions come with. He doesn’t know exactly why she is important or when she will actually walk into his life, but he knows where (a local coffee shop), and he’s absolutely infatuated with her. Peter Falk has an inexplicable cameo as a buddy of Cage’s, before disappearing from the film altogether.

Somewhat similar but ultimately inferior to “Déjà vu” (Similar to a film called “Déjà vu”? There’s irony for ‘ya!), this 2007 Lee Tamahori (“Once Were Warriors”, the unfairly maligned Bond flick “Die Another Day”) yarn from a Philip K. Dick (“Minority Report”) short story has its moments. The inclusion of a romance between Cage and Biel eats up way too much time, but adds a truly fascinating and original layer to the “Déjà vu” premise. Unfortunately, it can’t quite match the earlier film on any level (casting three leads that I don’t generally like certainly doesn’t help), and the ending is brave but stupid. Both films feature time-travelling and a terrorist plot, but the latter is handled poorly here, aside from providing some mildly inventive action scenes as Cage is able to predict his opponents moves. More of the sci-fi stuff and less of the terrorist plot and romance would’ve helped greatly, fascinating as some of the latter is. To be honest, I’m not even sure if the film actually needed the terrorist thing in order for it to work.

Cage is well-cast for once, but Moore isn’t well-cast at all (unless you really liked her in “Hannibal”), and her role completely sucks. Also, where the hell did Falk vanish to after his one scene? What was up with that? Still, the premise is still intriguing, even when not being terribly original (and I really don’t care if Dick wrote the story before “Déjà vu” or not, someone still made the decision to green-light the film in the wake of that film), and like I said, that extra layer to the major conceit is fascinating. The screenplay is by Gary Goldman (who has contributed to much better films like “Big Trouble in Little China” and “Total Recall”), Jonathan Hensleigh (the disappointing “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and pathetic “Jumanji”), and Paul Bernbaum.

Rating: C+