John Reviews Next

Next-PosterYou just have to accept you’re usually either going to be hit or miss whenever Nicholas Cage is in a film. I like the guy as an actor in general, but wow can he pick some awful stuff to be in. So what about “Next“. Well, you add a hottie like Jessica Biel, a great performer like Julianne Moore and a Phillip Dick story to the mix and hope seems to return. But wait… a 29% rating on Rotten Tomates? Oh oh.

The idea of Next goes like this:

“Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling “winnings.” But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm”

Ok, so not a bad concept. But how was the movie?

THE GOOD

The pace of this film is fantastic. No, it’s not go go go go… it’s not an adrenaline rush. But the story keeps moving forward. It speeds up, it slows down, but all with a definite sense of pace and timing to it that always kept me in the film. The movie never seems to dwell on unimportant facts or characters more than necessary, each scene feels just long enough to deliver it’s point and then moves on. The story never races towards the finish line… but it never loses momentum either. Very well done in that regard.

The dialog was quite good. I turned to the person I saw the film with more than once and whispered to them “you know, that scene could have been a whole lot more cheesy that it was”. I never had any of those “Oh god, she didn’t just really say that did she?” moments. The lines in the humor and serious stuff all came off quite naturally.

Nicholas Cage’s power in the film (seeing 2 minutes into the future) doesn’t seem like you could build a whole movie around it… but they find great little uses for this power in the film that made me go “Damn that was cool” at least 4 or 5 times.

The movie doesn’t answer all the questions. I LOVE that. Yes, the movie resolves… but it leaves a couple of questions unanswered… without feeling like everything had to be tied up in a nice little bow for the audience. Part of that was just good story telling… another part of it was to leave a door wide open for a sequel (I personally think they could make a very good franchise out of this film)

THE BAD

This will seem a bit contradictory at first so please just bare with me here. The “bad guys” were pretty damn lame in my opinion. Yes, they were mean, yes they killed people… and yes they had dirty french accents… but what often gives a villain a real presence in a film… what makes them truly scary to me is often “motivation”. Why do they do what they’re doing is an important question that helps flesh out the conflict and gives a better “dread” to the antagonist. This film lacked anything for the villains except the aforementioned dirty french accent (which on its own doesn’t really inspire a lot of fear).

OVER ALL

Sorry guys, I know most credible film critics are bashing this flick… and I thought it would be trash too… but you know what? I REALLY liked this movie. To me it’s the best film I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks. It was fun, some good humor, Cage was likable, the way the director took a simple concept and just really made it work on screen and a terrific ending. I thought this film was a hoot. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination.. but I had fun watching it. Over all I give “Next” an 8 out of 10.

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18 thoughts on “John Reviews Next

  1. ENTER YOUR COMMENTS HERE. Make sure you fill out the box below this one before submitting your comment

    I haven’t seen this film yet, but it looks pretty cool.

    If I can just say one thing, regarding the shitty reviews it has been getting, I think that critics are too harsh on movies these days. What do you think John?

  2. This was a fun flick. I don’t know that I’d go out of my way to see it again, but it was enjoyable, and yes the stuff he did with his powers were pretty sweet, especially the fight in the dinner.

    Whe is it some numb nuts like “prophecy” just can’t wrap their minds around some people enjoying a movie they don’t like? You’re right, it’s very weak and sad.

  3. Showgirls was more enjoyable then this film. And that’s not saying much when Showgirls was a complete piece of crap. Nicholas Cage needs to be more wiser in his film choices after his last couple disasters (Ghost Rider,The Wicker Man,The Weather Man).

  4. saw this on sunday with 3 other people. we all really liked it. 2 of us were not expecting it to be any good at all based off reviews.

    sometimes movie buffs need to lighten up and just enjoy a freaking movie for once without being a pain in the a$$ critic 24/7.

    it’s been mentioned repeatedly as a deja-vu rip, but personally i think it was much more enjoyable.

    it wasn’t deep, it might not even be a dvd purchase, but it was a good afternoon at the theater and another good flick for cage.

  5. Actually Prophecy, Paramount didn’t do Next. Revolution Studios did.

    I didn’t know you were so weak minded that when someone doesn’t agree with your opinion you instantly start looking for “coruption” as an alternative. Sad sad sad.

  6. This film was crap with so-so acting, thin villians and it’s a total rip of Deja Vu, Premonition, Payback, etc. About a 4.5 out of 10 in my book. But John will remind all of us that film is subjective.

    Hmmmm wait a tick – didn’t Paramount make this flick. Hmmmmm didn’t Paramount just finish John’s wet dream called Transformers. Didn’t Paramount let John on the set of the Transformers. Sniff, sniff, sniff. Do you smell that kids? Smells like pandering with a hint of Hollywood sell out to me.

    Come on John…you are starting to lose some credibility with these wishy washy reviews. Call a spade a spade man!

  7. This movie was directed by Lee Tamahori. The same guy that was arrested some time ago while being dressed as a hooker and charged for prostitution. The same guy that directed “XXX State of the union” and the mediocre “Along came a spider” and “Die another day”. And “Next” is as bad as one would expect. The critics hated it. It seems that most of the people also found it quite mediocre (5.6 on IMDB).

    No surprise that Campea liked it.

  8. I really liked this movie. There is a point to Beil’s character, but I won’t say without spoiling it. Short story by Philip K Dick, same guy who wrote Paycheck, Minority Repot and Blade Runner.

    If you liked Paycheck you will like Next. Very similar.

    (Short story is called “The Golden Man.”)

  9. Why oh why did the makers of this film even have to credit Philip K. Dick? The movie is nothing at all like the story that it’s supposedly based upon! The only similarity is an abiility to see the future. The story (The Golden Man) is about a seven foot tall mutant with gold skin who never speaks nor emotes and is tracked down by the government because they’re afraid of him. With so little reminiscent of the original text, I wish they’d just left PKD’s name off of it so the two wouldn’t be associated. It’s bad enough we have to admit that Paycheck is based on one of his stories, but now this?

  10. I don’t want to give anything away. I would just say to everyone who finds it hard to believe that Cage could land Biel, that it seems more possible in the context of this movie. If you have other reasons not to watch the movie, I won’t try to change your mind.

    If you’d sort of like to see it, but just can’t get over that particular romantic pairing, I’d encourage you to go ahead and take the plunge. Whatever strains on your suspension of disbelief the movie may have), I don’t feel like that’s one of them.

  11. An 8? Seriously? I gave it a review on my site and only gave it 2 out of 5 (which would be 4 out of 10). The main problem I had was that the movie was just TOO silly and TOO ludicrous for me to take it seriously in any way. And Jessica Biel’s character was HORRIBLE and totally pointless.

  12. Nice to read a good review for this. I figured it’d be bad in a Paycheck kind of way, but I kinda want to see it, as I like Cage in his ‘action’ flicks (Gone in 60 Seconds, Face/Off, Con Air, etc) when I just want something fun to watch with good explosions. However, while I can suspend my disbelief on Cage seeing into the future for 2 minutes, it’s going to be tough to believe he’d get Biel.

  13. Color me shocked. I thought it looked like shit.

    And no amount of drugs will make me believe that skeletor spooky Nicolas Cage could score Jessica Biel. No amount of drugs will make me buy her with Adam Sandler in that other movie, either.

  14. John,
    I’m really surprised you liked this movie. Nicholas Cage, Jessica Beil, and Julianne Moore are all good actors when in the right role. But they just weren’t that good in this film. And with several films and a t.v show in the past couple years with the same plot. This Deja Vuish action thriller is a mediocre at best film. It won’t make any big bucks at the box-office, but for those who like this genre. I’m sure it will be there cup of tea.

    Don’t worry john your stil my hero even if you liked this piece of crap.

  15. thank god someone else liked the movie too. i saw next with three other people and they all hated it. I loved Next, it was very entertaining, and I wasn’t bored one bit. thanks john for actually liking this movie.

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