Next (movie)

Anybody that knows my taste in fiction knows that I love science fiction, and that, more specifically, I like the element of time travel.

Next is the story of a man (Nicolas Cage) that can see 2 minutes into his own future. This means he knows exactly where each punch will be thrown in a fight, he knows exactly where bullets will hit him if he walks toward someone firing at him, and he knows if he's going to win at black jack.

It's a very interesting premise and it was portrayed satisfactorily.

The direction and vision were executed well. I had a great time watching Nick Cage view all the possible outcomes of the near future. Especially toward the end they did a great job showing how this all worked.

The acting? Fairly good. The only complaint I would have about this is that Nicolas Cage is a great actor but he only plays one part. Have you ever seen him in a movie? Then you've seen him in this one too. He makes great movies but his performance gets old after the first 124 movies you've seen him in.

The only complaint I have is that the cgi needed a bit of work in the major avalanche scene. There was a lot of apparent green/blue screen work and some sub-par visual FX added in the mix. See the movie and you'll see what I mean. The avalanche looked more like a video game rendition. But if you can look past that, the rest was well done.

It was an action flick but I wouldn't say it was action packed. It was somewhat intense but not edge-of-your-chair intense. The plot was good, but not all that thick.

On another note, the major dilema in the movie was that a bunch of terrorists were going to nuke Los Angeles, but there was never a mention of their motive. WHY did they want to blow up the city? It was all just kind of overlooked.

My Rating: 3.8/5 (even though it's a 3, it's a high 3, almost a 4)
My Recommendation: Rent it (definitely see it but not worth the buy unless you're a fanatic about buying every DVD you watch)