Next
Paramount

Nicholas Cage seems drawn to parts where the hero isn’t the balls-out action guy, but instead falls into heroism. Think of The Rock and even the flawed but not as bad as folks said Ghost Rider earlier this year (the extended cut is better on DVD). Sure, in Con Air, he was the military man caught in a mess of psycho thugs, but that was an exception.

In Next, based loosely on a Philip K. Dick short story, The Golden Man, Cage is cheesy Vegas stage magician Chris Johnson who can see two minutes into the future, with exception of one female vision he’s having in the fine form of Jessica Biel as Liz Cooper, who’s more likable in this than most of her tough hot-chick roles of late. Also in the mix is Julianne Moore as an F.B.I. agent who wants Johnson for a gift in order to thwart terrorists…and there you go.

The special effects, working off the concept of the numerous forks in all-out future roads, work well, though the film’s ending takes a turn that may or may not be a cheat on the entire concept that’s been laid out during the movie (I haven’t decided yet).

Certainly no blockbuster of any kind, Next didn’t have to be and is quite watchable, and proof that, y’know, sometimes it’s okay to be a B-movie. The DVD extras include various featurettes playing on the main theme of if you knew that immediate future and could see all the options, would you make the right choices? And what is the right choice? Do we always know for sure? I don’t think so, and that’s what the film’s really about. It’s a fun ride getting there. The release also comes in an HD edition.

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