Just 2 Minutes of Your Time (Next (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Next (DVD)
Date:	30/01/08 (202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Decent story

Disadvantages: Plenty of cliche

Sometimes, just sometimes, a movie comes along and surprises, giving you something you hadn't expected. In my case, I love most things associated with sci-fi writer, Philip K Dick and having enjoyed the screen adaptations of "Total Recall", "Minority Report" and most famously "Blade Runner", it was a delightful revelation that the movie "Next" (not to be confused with the retail chain) was a loose adaptation of a Dick short story called "The Golden Man".

What would happen if you could see two minutes into your own future? Two minutes in which you could alter things and shape your destiny. That's exactly the special ability possessed by Las Vegan magician, Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage). The exception to this is a beautiful girl that he sees in a diner, over and over again. Whilst at a casino, his gambling draws the attention of the resident security men and, by seeing the future, Johnson prevents an armed robbery, restraining the assailant but the arriving guards jump to the wrong conclusion assuming the magician to be the instigator, causing him to flee.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Ferris (Julianne Moore) is working on a case that involves preventing a terrorist gang detonating a nuclear device. Aware of Johnson's talents, she heads up a team intent on catching the clairvoyant in a bid to enlist his help in the urban terrorist operation. As they close in on Johnson, he finally meets up with the dream girl from his premonitions and having spent the night with her, wakes to realise that their cabin is surrounded by FBI agents ready to take him in. As he escapes, a future unfolds that cancels out his new found happiness, plunging him into a nightmare scenario involving the FBI, the terrorists and the potential, violent death of his new girlfriend. Somehow, some way, Johnson must find a future that side steps an apocalypse and guides him to a fulfillment that he's sought all his life.

"Next" was released in 2007 film and is a science fiction/action movie directed by Lee Tamahori. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Nic Cage. He was compelling in "National Treasure", poignantly funny in "Family Man" and strangely depressing in "The Weather Man" and in "Next" he slides away from his sex symbol status, what with markedly longer hair and a ponderous role in which he spends nearly the whole of the run time looking thoughtful. Jessica Biel as Liz Cooper sounds a babe alert as Cage's love interest, with a damsel-in-distress part that's more than enough to engage the males in the audience (and some females if you are into that kinda thing or maybe you just appreciate her thespian qualities).

Peter Falk gets a curious cameo as Cage's confidant and looks decidedly ancient, albeit sans dirty mac but still sporting that Columbo accent and glass eye squint, even if he doesn't get a chance to wear down the bad guy into confessing all. Julianne Moore is on safe ground as an FBI agent, having traversed that particular territory in the Hannibal Lecter franchise and the stereotypical foreign terrorists all look and sound ominously foreign-terroristish in that typically non-American way that terrorists always are in Hollywood movies. [Golden rule in Hollywood: Always make the bad guy either a foreign terrorist or English!] Perhaps the strangest thing about the whole piece is the lack of explanation as to why the terrorists are looking to nuke the city. Gary Goldman and Jonathan Hensleigh's screenplay makes it pretty hard to follow as to why the evil, non-US persons are trying to convert the city into radioactive wasteland and I couldn't work out why they were doing what they were doing with a tenuous link to Johnson and his newly threatened girlfriend thrown in to the melee.

The special effects are up and down at times. The blue/green screen shot of a car jumping a rail track beating the train to the mark doesn't look overly convincing but the rock slide, action set piece as Johnson tries to escape the FBI is much better while the time-splitter like sequences with the lead extending his powers of seeing into the future are original if a little confusing. Perhaps the most oblique aspect of the movie is the anachronistic debate that the audience is tempted to have around the ability and ramifications of controlling 2 minutes and above into your own personal future but if you suspend belief and just let the plot wash over you then it is possible to engage with the story. [Cue bizarre script like: "Liz: I don't want you to die. Johnson: It happened. It just hasn't happened yet."]

With a run time of 96 minutes, certificate 12A and music from Mark Isham, "Next" is a decent addition to the fashionable catalogue of Philip K Dick adaptations, if not startlingly good compared with other movies in the same genre. The film will appeal to older children and adults looking for action and drama with a sci-fi theme and the movie rattles along at a good pace without getting bogged down in sub-plots. With a decent cast, good story and a frenetic finale, "Next" is a good excuse to buy/hire the DVD or pay for it from Sky Box Office. Quite frankly, I enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading

Mara

DVD available at Amazon from £7.98.

Summary: Overview of movie