Phillip K. Dick has become a hot commodity in Hollywood despite his passing from this world over 15 years ago. His science fiction shorts have provided the basis for a number of successful movie adaptations including Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report, amongst others.
Dick's latest posthumus foray into motion pictures is Next, based on the short story "The Golden Man." Nicolas Cage stars as Cris Johnson, a man with the 
ability to see two-minutes into his own future. And where might someone with such a talent hide out? Well, Vegas of course.
Johnson runs a cheesy magic act under the even cheesier name Frank Cadillac in-between placing small bets at casinos in order to keep a low profile. When he's approached by FBI counter-terror agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), who wants to exploit his ability in order to thwart a nuclear attack, Johnson goes on the run, believing his short-term abilities won't really help solve the crisis and he'll end up a lab rat.
Johnson has also recently been having dreams of a beautiful woman he believes may be "the one." He finally encounters this vision of beauty, Liz, (Jessica Biel) at a diner, taking her on the lam along with him without her knowledge.
Written by Gary Goldman (who also wrote Total Recall and produced Minority Report), Next is directed by Lee Tamahori (XXX: State of the Union, Die Another Day).
Nicolas Cage is perfectly cast as Johnson. Cage is one of the few actors still able to bounce between indie and blockbuster fair effortlessly with maximum likeability. He has fun as Johnson and he's consistently entertaining in the part.
Biel doesn't have a whole lot to do as Liz other than be beautiful and seem believable as Johnson's perfect woman. Sold. I mean, wouldn't every guy hope the perfect girl for them looks like Jessica Biel?
We are also told that through Liz, Johnson can see much further into the future. This plot device ultimately comes into play nicely, but there is never any real explanation for why exactly she creates this ability in him. I guess it's just because she is "the one," but I was expecting something more. 
Julianne Moore is ridiculously out of place in Next. While it might be cool to have a female protagonist that isn't a love interest for once, Moore really just seems wrong for the part. Her character is supposed to be all business and tough-as-nails, but instead she just ends up robotic.
The villains are corny. The reasons for their terrorist plot are glossed over. They have accents, so they are bad guys. In one scene a baddie eats an apple with a sharp pocket knife as if to say, "See how Eeevil I am, I use a sharp knife to eat my apples."
As with Die Another Day, Tamahori has a knack for cool breakneck action sequences and slick effects. Johnson's visions into the future are well done, as is a late sequence in which variations of his future self explore a facility for would be terrorists in each and every direction. Similar to directors like John Woo and Michael Bay, Tamahori's strengths seem to lie more in flashy fun action than story and plot. But hey, that's Hollywood these days, right?
Next is a slick, moderately entertaining B-movie sci-fi flick. It's fun if you don't think about it too much, but the standard paint-by-numbers elements of a Hollywood blockbuster are all present. Plot holes and clichés are abound, but Next lets you know pretty early on that this isn't a movie intended for deep thoughts. It's fun if you relax and go for the ride, but think too much and you'll just wind up annoyed.
ReelzChannel Rating: 
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