Next: A Movie Review

"What's next?" I found myself guessing as I watched "Next" progress. I was mildly surprised.

"Next" follows Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage), the magician, with a special ability to see two minutes into the future. While trying to come up with some extra cash in a casino, Cris's uncanny ability to win grabs the attention of the security on watch. Cris, seeing trouble, escapes the casino in a stolen car after out-witting the security guards, baffling the FBI. The plot continues as Cris stays one step ahead of the FBI, and as Chris searches for a mysterious woman that has broken the two-minute barrier of his visions. Upon meeting her, the two become intertwined in a risky fate as the FBI pursue Johnson to capture his abilities to find a stolen nuclear bomb. However, the FBI are not the only ones who know about Cris's abilities. The terrorists do. And they want him dead.

Overall, it was not a terrible movie. I actually found it quite thrilling. Nicolas Cage is enjoyable to watch in this movie. With his smooth and casual skills, he pulls off the clairvoyant character quite nicely. Some of the rest of the characters are somewhat annoying. Such as the FBI agent played by Moore. She is so domineering and almost so cruel that I'm surprised that she was able to keep her job in the FBI.

The plot is fast-paced and keeps the watcher continually guessing which scene is the premonition and which is reality. It is a joy to see how Cris gets out of his present situations he finds himself in. The special effects are quite nice. I didn't notice any big, glaring errors, but no doubt there were a few glitches. The plot had a little bit of everything: humor, romance, thrill, mystery, and suspense. There were only a few unanswered questions throughout the entire film.

My favorite part of the movie was towards the beginning where Cris was escaping the casino. Nicolas Cage was smooth and controlled throughout the entire scene. It was so amazing and funny. My family and I laughed out loud as Nicolas walked straight through a pair of security guards desperately searching for him. All the while, the guard surveying the security cameras was screaming the exact location of Cris Johnson, but to no avail.

It was the ending, however, that I was a little disappointed with. After an intense climax, one little detail changes everything in the movie: a premonition. The watcher then had to backtrack on all of their assumptions to re-evaluate the situation. Then the movie ends. It completely left an entire string of the plot untied.

I will agree with some of the other reviews I have read: yes, the movie could have been handled better. There were weak parts in the film. The idea of the movie could have been explored more throughly and made into a better movie. However, I found this movie fun to watch. Just when you think that you've guessed the ending or the next scene, one little detail changes everything. You never are for sure what is coming next.

I would recommend this to those that are fans of Nicolas Cage, fans of a movie that keeps you guessing, or to those that just want a fun movie to watch.