Next

It doesn’t matter if you’re searching for a ringing mobile phone or trying to change a CD – too many distractions can cause you to go all over the road. Lee Tamahori was obviously doing both when he was commissioned to steer “Next”.

Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel

It doesn’t matter if you’re searching for a ringing mobile phone or trying to change a CD – too many distractions can cause you to go all over the road.

Lee Tamahori was obviously doing both when he was commissioned to steer “Next”.

Based on a story by famed sci-fi author Philip K.Dick (“Minority Report”, “Bladerunner”), “Next” is another one of these out-of-control loco blockbusters that chugs speedily towards its destination but forgets to stop for at a driver reviver stop.

One of the dumbest taxpayer financed studio efforts in years, the film is all-star, all special effects – and funnily enough, they’re the films weakest elements. There’s no chemistry between the leads (Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel getting it on? Ewwww) and the effects look as fake as Tony Mokbel’s hairpiece.

The film’s strongest element is Dick’s story – Nicolas Cage plays a Vegas musician with the unique ability to see future events and affect their outcome; Julianne Moore plays the agent who wants to recruit him to stop a nuclear attack; Biel’s the girl that gets caught up in it all – but unfortunately the films’ three screenwriters have struggled to adapt it for the big screen. In turn, there are no interesting characters, the pacing is all off and the big pay-off never really comes.

Without its stars – Cage (on what is his third bad film in a row, after “The Wicker Man” and “Ghost Rider”), Moore and Biel – this would definitely have bypassed theatres. It isn’t terrible, in fact the story alone keeps you engaged, but at the end of the day it’s quite underwhelming – I guess, what did we expect from the director of “XXX 2”?

Rating :
Reviewer : Clint Morris