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by Willie Waffle

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Next

Nicolas Cage stars as Cris Johnson – a cheesy Vegas performer with the power to see a few minutes into the future, as long as the action involves or affects his life in some way.  FBI Agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) is aware Cris has some sort of power to see the future, so she has been tracking him and wants to convince the guy to help stop a possible terrorist attack.  Because of his past, Cris is wary of trusting government agents, so he attempts to escape by hitching a ride with a pretty lady who has caught his eye, Liz (Jessica Biel).  Now, he is on the run, and the French terrorists have joined in tracking Cris to make sure he doesn’t disrupt their diabolical plan (yep, French terrorists, or, at least, they sound French.  Maybe they are Russian and I just don’t get it.  More on this later).

Will Cris escape?  Will the terrorist attack take place? 

Next has plenty of problems, but plenty of entertainment as well.  Director Lee Tamahori does a good job grabbing the audience’s attention as we watch possible future scenarios play out in Cris’s head, then get brought back to current time to see what our hero will do to avoid danger or get what he wants.  Of course, this also gives the audience plenty of laughs, and Cage has some of his best moments when using the information, both of which are welcome in this movie.  Sadly, Tamahori gives up the mechanism too early in the movie, and should have kept it going throughout.  However, while we get a decent action film, Tamahori is not too focused on details, and should have pushed his actors into better performances. 

Why are the French terrorists trying to plant and detonate a nuclear device in America?  Are they upset at years of us mocking the Metric system?  Because we never let Pepe Le Pew get the girl?  Their evil plot doesn’t get much play here as Tamahori focuses on Cris, his romance with Liz and Callie’s pursuit.  Also, we get stuck watching some of the worst acting you will ever see from Moore.  Granted, Moore and Cage can do better than 99% of the people in Hollywood, but I was shocked to see them upstaged by Biel.

Moore is overacting and too stiff the entire time as she attempts to be a hardboiled FBI agent ready to kick booty at the drop of a hat.  It was hard to feel like her heart was in it.  Then, Cage seems more hang dog than usual.  He seems half asleep most of the time (even if he is supposed to be some haunted guy tired of his gargantuan burden), but finds a few moments to lighten the mood (like when he helps people avoid danger) and show us some urgent emotion when needed.  I'm sure Cage or someone defending him wil argue Cris can't get rattled because he sees the future, and has the confidence to know what to do because of it, but we want our characters to wear their emotion on their sleeves in a movie like this.  

Usually I feel bad for Biel as she gets a confused look on her face while trying to emote while not wearing a bikini, but she comes across as the most engaged performer in Next as she falls for this weird guy who can see into the future, faces danger and fights for herself.  It is an Oscar worthy performance to make us believe a hot babe like her would be interested in a balding, creepy guy twice her age like Cage, so give her some props.      

When the dialogue is not funny, our three writers (Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh and Paul Bernbaum based on the short story by Philip K. Dick) deliver some bad work, especially when Liz is trying to help out Cris early in the movie, but we get a good ending which puts Next over the top. 

2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

Next is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some language. 

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