Film Reviews

Next

• Rating:
• Director: Lee Tamahori.
• Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann.
• Details: US / 96mins (12A).

Cris Johnson (Cage) is a seemingly pedestrian magician, working a two-bit club in Vegas. But Cris has a secret: he can see a few minutes into the future. So when the FBI inexplicably figure this out, Cris is enlisted to help them track a nuclear bomb which is about to go off - for some reason that is neither believable, nor in any way entertaining. Next is the latest cinematic dung heap from king of the hack directors Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day XXX2), who directs with the competence of tongueless dog trying to lick his own balls. The action is blandly-handled (the opposite being kind of a must for a supposed action director), the CGI set pieces are about as convincing as a transvestite with a blatant bulge, and his direction of an entirely bewildered looking cast is completely lacking. Cage basically plays the same character as he did in Ghost Rider (which at least embraced the quirkiness) opposite a surprisingly bad Julianne Moore (who has risen above many a dire script before), and a romantic lead in the form of Jessica Biel - evidently ignoring the fact that Cris is 20 years older, with scary hair, and is also a bit mental. Even with suspension of belief being a given, Next is beyond ridiculous. There is no attempt at an explanation as to how Cris got these powers, so as we lumber from one set piece to another; and with very little progressive characterisation, we eventually stop caring. Nicolas Cage has won an Oscar, and thus can obviously act, so why he chooses to star in insipid, brainless shite such as this is beyond my relatively simple brain. Next is the kind of film that studios want you to see because to them it's a no brainer, just a package they throw together and hope an undemanding public embrace as a form of escapism. What they've given us is a derivative and completely unsatisfying action flick, which will appeal only to people with the attention span of caffeine-polluted seven year old.

Review by Mike Sheridan