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'Next' only grossed $22M worldwide on its release, and IMDb users rated it at a 6.2/10.
But this film is a fantasy genre fan's dream of a sci-fi story. And this film may have been one of the first to muck with end-credits like Marvel does. Well, probably not, but they do this quirky thing to the credits at the end.
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Nicolas Cage has this presentation that does not really draw me in, and up until today I've only seen bits and pieces of the film on TV but for whatever reason I took the plunge and now that I have, I am definitely glad I did.
The basis of the story is about a man named Cris, who can see into his own future by around two minutes. Which is a pretty handy skill to have when you're in a fight or people are shooting at you. Or trying.
The catch is that the FBI somehow caught onto Cris's abilities because while living in Las Vegas, he would use his talent to play the tables while trying to lay low and make just enough to not stand out. Oops.
The FBI wants him for his skills to help prevent a nuclear bomb attack on Los Angeles, while not quite understanding how his skills work.
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The story in 'Next' evolved in such a fashion that it was a very natural progression of events. We were introduced to his magician's job and then his 'table play' on the strip. We were then introduced to his skill after quite a few minutes and then the pursuit of Cris by the FBI.
Despite the threat of a terrorist with a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, the first half of the movie was his dodging the FBI until he finally decides he needs to work with them. The last 30 to 40% of the film was his helping stop the bad guys.
Through this all, Cris meets Liz (Biel) just before he gets in deep with the FBI. What is odd about his meeting her was that rather than seeing her in his future by just two minutes, he knew about her by a much greater amount of time. And she is the linchpin to his ability to see farther into the future. And his meeting her and parlaying his talent into helping him meet her is actually a pretty fun high point of the movie.
But this quirk where he can see much farther into the future through her is a good and bad thing.
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This Philip K. Dick story is translated to screen and even though it's a fantasy film, it was fun to follow and it is immersed with the reality of the law enforcement angle.
The action involving Cris is fun, as he manages to duck punches and bullets with a seemingly super-human skill. At one point, we see just how convoluted his thinking can be.
'Next' surprised me in how fun it was, despite Cage's "whatever" kind of mode in how he delivers his characters. Julianne Moore is who she is in this film, nothing new from her, and Biel is just Biel, but for me, she looks dang near perfect in her tight jeans and tank-top.
This cast alone was a good cast and were carried along by the fascinating story.
Don't get me wrong, this is not a 'Gone with the Wind' kind of film, but it felt like a slightly above average fantasy genre movie.
Oh, and on the end credits, the moment they start, they jump straight to the end and roll backwards. You don't realize it until near the end (or is it the beginning of the credits) that we realize we are truly reading them backwards.
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