Next

I wish the movie studios would make more movies like Next. The movie is being sold as an action-type thriller, but in feel it is closer to a true blue science fiction movie. This is not surprising since the source material is "The Golden Man", was written by Philip K Dick. Philip K. Dick is a subject onto himself, a very interesting fellow. His stories have always been a good source for movie material, most famously with Blade Runner, but they also include Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly.

The premise is a simple one. What would it be like if you could see two minutes in the future? Cris Johnson, played by Nicolas Cage, has this ability, and the government wants Cris to use this ability for them to help catch terrorist that are threatening to set off a nuclear bomb in the United States. This is a sharp movie and I enjoyed watching it. Cris Johnson's love interest, played by Jessica Biel, throws a monkey wrench into the plot, and Chis finds himself at cross purposes. Who is he going to help? The movie does a pretty good job of presenting different little variations on this theme, of seeing two minutes into the future, and the movie comes up with several different scenarios of what might happen. I think what actually weakens the film is they get away from this basic premise and start to give Cris more powers. I think the film would have been stronger if they had stuck to the basic premise and seen it through to the very end. I do not know how true the film makers were to the original story. It does have a great chase scene in the middle of the movie, always a nice surprise, which reminded me of the scene in Seven Chances where Buster Keaton is being chased by boulders down a hill.

This is a smart little movie, and I recommend that you go see it, especially if you like science fiction movies.

You can write James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com