Next (2007)

"...lives from one brilliantly executed chase sequence to the next, which is more than enough reason to stay the course.  Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
"A clever, action-packed ride!  Neil Rosen, NY 1 News
"Wildly ridiculous and thoroughly entertaining thriller.  Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

Editor's Note In the years since his novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? was brought to the screen as BLADE RUNNER (1982), Philip K. Dick's paranoid, futuristic works have frequently made the same leap---sometimes as brainy puzzlers (OPEN YOUR EYES, A SCANNER DARKLY), but more often as star-powered action vehicles (TOTAL RECALL, PAYCHECK). NEXT (based very loosely on Dick's short story "The Golden Man") falls squarely in the latter category, with always-game Nicolas Cage as Cris Johnson, a man with the ability to see two minutes into the future. Afraid that all sorts of frightening demands will be made on him if the true scope of his ability becomes known, Johnson limits the use of his powers to a hokey, third-rate Vegas stage show and reading slot machines to gauge their payouts. Meanwhile, terrorists have imported a nuclear device into the U.S., with the intention of detonating it in a major metropolitan area, and F.B.I. agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) has discovered that Cris's ability is no fake and that he might be able to prevent the disaster. Unfortunately for Cris, he has just met Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel), a gorgeous schoolteacher who gets more involved in this international intrigue than she had any intention to. Lee Tamahori (DIE ANOTHER DAY) keeps NEXT's action coming at an admirable clip, fully exploiting the film's gimmick of several possible outcomes to every major crossroads that Cris encounters. Enough things explode, drive fast, and roll down hillsides to satiate any action fan looking for a well-oiled thrill machine. Cage and Moore are their usual likeable screen personas, Biel's Liz Cooper is a suitably crushworthy romantic interest, and Mark Isham's (CRASH, THE BLACK DAHLIA) score provides perfect accompaniment to the proceedings.

	Jessica Biel
	Julianne Moore
	Nicolas Cage
	Peter Falk
	Christian Wagner - Editor
	David Tattersall - Cinematographer
	Gary Goldman, et. al. - Screenplay
	Jason Koornick - Executive Producer
	Kevin Ishioka - Art Director
	Lee Tamahori - Director
	Mark Isham - Original Music By
	Nicolas Cage - Producer
	Philip K. Dick - Based On Novel By
	William Sandell - Production Designer

ReelViews 7 of 10
Next represents Nicolas Cage's second superhero movie in the space of two months. However, where Ghost Rider was based on a comic book, Next takes its inspiration from a Philip K. Dick story. The result is not unlike what we have come to expect of many (although not all) Dick adaptations: maddeningly inconsistent. The first act of Next is brilliant, but the rest of the movie can't keep pace and the whole thing ends up collapsing under its own weight...The plot contains a lot of unrealized potential; the character and his ability are interesting enough to warrant future exploration, but it's unlikely the film will generate a strong enough box office to result in a sequel, especially with a much bigger superhero film immediately around the corner. This isn't a bad movie; it's watchable but the direction in which the filmmakers choose to take it results in a vague sense of dissatisfaction. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 8 of 10
Las Vegas magician Cris Johnson, aka Frank Cadillac (Nicolas Cage), likes his martinis. That much we know from the opening scenes of Lee Tamahori's action-packed, very silly, and wildly entertaining thriller Next...The last time Cage drank this much in a movie, he won an Oscar. But while both the setting and the drink suggests another Leaving Las Vegas, this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story quickly detours from that dark avenue into the land of the totally cuckoo...The recipe works up to a point. Next is tasty, but only in an empty-calorie sort of way. It is a completely diverting tale, but it is supposed to be suspenseful. It definitely is not, because it is all too ridiculous. The shame of it is that all of the elements are there to make a really compelling thriller, but that would take a rewrite to add something resembling credibility and logic to the screenplay. The filmmakers settled for fun when they could have had fabulous. - Pam Grady