Movie I Saw: Next

Next is already out on video, because it didn't last very long in theatres. When I saw the first trailers for the movie, I was pretty dubious: Nicolas Cage as a dude who sees the future? Jessica Biel as his monkey-faced love-interest? It's hard to know whether to groan or barf, right?

I was compelled to watch the movie because the story was written by Philip K. Dick, the acclaimed sci-fi author whose novels and short stories have resulted in films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly. The best Dick movies manage to preserve his skillful blending of situational sci-fi with believable drama, but even the worst adaptations usually still offer up a few exciting chases and some funky technology. Next belongs somewhile near the middle of the pile.

Nic Cage plays Cris Johnson, able since childhood to see ahead into the future - but only his own future, and only ever two minutes ahead. More interested in a quiet private life than anything else, Cris uses his ability to "wow" tourists with a low-rent magic show in Vegas and earns extra cash from slot machines and blackjack - not gambling at all, with his edge. As the film starts, Cris is shown waiting at the same coffee shop, twice a day at 8:09 for weeks, because he had a vision of meeting Jessica Biel's character there at that time of day. It's the first time Cris has forseen something more than two minutes ahead, and he has no idea why.

On the day that Biel's character actually arrives, Cris is on the run from Julianne Moore's FBI agent who is determined to exploit Cris' ability toward finding a terrorist cell with a stolen nuke.

The plot that follows is predictable in a some regards, but also delightfully surprising in others. There are some genuinely terrific elements of Next: Cage capably captures the essence of man tired of being harassed because of this ability. He runs from the FBI not because he doesn't care about the terrorists, but because he genuinely doesn't believe he can help with his ability's two-minute limit. He's world-weary, bored and just wants to meet his mystery woman and get on with things. The action set peices in Next are rather awesome, and it's fun to watch Cris use his ability to deftly handle situations that leave everyone around him scrambling. And when Cris really cuts loose late in the film, his abilities are demonstrated with a visual-effects trick that's smart and coherant but not over-explained.

If you want to enjoy Next, however, you'll have to overlook a few things. First, Nicolas Cage stays true to form with this role and gives Cris a number of personality quirks that are far more distracting than they are necessary to the character. So Jessica Biel's motivations in falling for Cris are utterly unfathomable, given Cage's just-plain-weird portrayal. Biel's monkey-like face is also a little off-putting. And Julianne Moore is dreadful. Her FBI agent barks every sentence, looks constantly constipated and doesn't display a lick of personality aside from a two-dimensional "cold, hard bitch" routine. What may have been a genuine attempt to portray the agent as brusque and business-like only comes across as flat and passion-less. I like to blame director Lee Tamhori, who has never gotten a really decent performance out of an actress. Monica Potter was limpid in Along Came a Spider and Halle Berry was laughable in Die Another Day - add Moore and you've got three actresses who have turned in tremendous performances for other directors. Perhaps Tamahori didn't give Moore enough time or takes to explore the character, or maybe Moore was just phoning this one in, but the result is a jarring note whenever her character is on screen.

Back to the positives, the absolute best part of the film,aside from Peter Falk's cameo, is the ending. I won't ruin it, but it's safe to say that there are not many films with an ending as gutsy, surprising or head-scratching as Next's. Keeping Dick's ending basically intact probably went against a lot of Hollywood instinct.

The movie represents a solid effort, and is a bit of a hidden gem, given it's theatrical reception. Check it out, why not?