I tend to like action/adventure movies starring Nicolas Cage, even when they’re kind of big and noisy and silly (GHOST RIDER, CON AIR, and THE ROCK, for example). NEXT isn’t quite as big and noisy as those movies (although it does feature a nuclear explosion, come to think of it), but it is pretty silly. And of course, I enjoyed it.
In this one, Cage plays a small-time Las Vegas stage magician, who really can see into the future on a limited basis. Because of this, the FBI decides they have to have his help to find a nuclear bomb that some terrorists have stolen and smuggled into the country, before the bad guys can set it off. Unfortunately, the bad guys don’t want him helping the FBI, so they’re after him, too, only they want to kill him. Cage’s character, not really sure what’s going on, just goes on the run from everybody and along the way meets a beautiful young woman who teaches on an Indian reservation. She’s played by Jessica Biel, who’s as gorgeous as ever but, uh, maybe just a mite too young to be romantically involved with a sleazy character twice her age.
Anyway, stuff blows up real good. Trains plow into cars. Giant logs roll down a mountainside and crush things. This is all great fun and serves to distract the viewer from the fact that the plot makes almost no sense at all. Then there’s a big twist at the end after ninety minutes of nearly non-stop action. NEXT is a perfectly harmless, even enjoyable way to spend that hour and a half, just don’t expect a tight, coherent script.
In this one, Cage plays a small-time Las Vegas stage magician, who really can see into the future on a limited basis. Because of this, the FBI decides they have to have his help to find a nuclear bomb that some terrorists have stolen and smuggled into the country, before the bad guys can set it off. Unfortunately, the bad guys don’t want him helping the FBI, so they’re after him, too, only they want to kill him. Cage’s character, not really sure what’s going on, just goes on the run from everybody and along the way meets a beautiful young woman who teaches on an Indian reservation. She’s played by Jessica Biel, who’s as gorgeous as ever but, uh, maybe just a mite too young to be romantically involved with a sleazy character twice her age.
Anyway, stuff blows up real good. Trains plow into cars. Giant logs roll down a mountainside and crush things. This is all great fun and serves to distract the viewer from the fact that the plot makes almost no sense at all. Then there’s a big twist at the end after ninety minutes of nearly non-stop action. NEXT is a perfectly harmless, even enjoyable way to spend that hour and a half, just don’t expect a tight, coherent script.
3 comments:
That about sums it up. I enjoyed it in a weird way despite it making no sense at all-and the big twist at the end rather made me enjoy it less, instead of more, although I suppose it was memorably in its own silly, incomprehensible way.
Since when does Hollywood make sense of casting young women with old male leads? It's a time "honored" tradition.
'Lord of War' to me is the best Cage movie. As long as he is not overacting he's good.
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