Next

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"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"

Is there any actor in Hollywood who has made more bad action movies than Nicolas Cage? Given that "Next" did not do all that well at the box office, it surprises me that Paramount would release it among their first Blu-ray discs after their lengthy absence from the BD field. Maybe it's in Cage's contract that his movies get first dibs on anything in high def. I dunno.

Anyway, "Next" is a "what if" movie. You know, one of those stories that poses some sort of weird, off-the-wall question that becomes its major premise. 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" if 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 idea. If you are able to do so, that is; in this case, it's a stretch. The movie is about a man who's 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.

Cage plays the guy with the psychic power, Cris Johnson, whom the police find working 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 start out with Johnson using his psychic powers to earn a few bucks as a lounge magician in 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 attention to himself, he wants to go unnoticed, but knowing two minutes ahead of time 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.

Toward the beginning of the movie, Johnson sees ahead of time 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 jump to the conclusion that Johnson is the culprit, and they try to apprehend him. Now, what would anyone's natural reaction in Johnson's situation 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 save extending the plot, Johnson runs away, and using his mental ability, he easily eludes the security people in the casino and then the police on the road. The purpose for all this, as far as I can tell, is merely to have an extended car chase at the start of the film. There is no other reason for it, and it's 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? Indeed, if he really could see several minutes into the future, why couldn't he see that running would only incriminate him further?

As I was saying, there's this terrorist group that has stolen a Russian nuclear bomb the size of Rhode Island and somehow smuggled it into Los Angeles, and the FBI want Johnson to use his psychic powers to find it. So, how did the FBI learn about Johnson's genuine 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. 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, again, can only be for the sake of the plot. So Johnson can run again, this time from the FBI, and we'll have a longer movie.

Nevertheless, 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 and his mystical powers? Maybe they're psychic, too.

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