Sporting that awful mullet Tom Hanks had in THE DA VINCI CODE, Nicolas Cage sleepwalks his role in this boring, by-the-numbers sci-fi thriller. I don't know what's worse, seeing Nic Cage not just in a mullet but giving his worst career performance ever or the movie that throws every "cool CGI" trick in the book right at us (slow-mo bullets, exploding cars, CGI fight scenes, etc). But the worst thing about NEXT is how much it butchers an otherwise intriguing premise (based on a Philip K. Dick story) to turn it into this years hackneyed, CGI-laden sci-fi blockbuster. With a big star, a sexy female co-star, and the director of XXX on board, the producers insist that everything from logic to coherence is entirely superfluous.
Cage plays Chris Johnson, a man who has the ability to see two seconds (read it again: Two seconds!) into the future, enabling him to dodge car accidents, do magic tricks, and eventually escape an FBI agent (Julianne Moore) who happens to be tracking him. See, they need him to find a nuclear device and disarm it just in time. Simple logic can be applied here, and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know exactly what's wrong here. How exactly can Johnson be of good use if he can only see two seconds into the future? Did the FBI also need the assistance of The Flash to find the bomb and disarm it within two seconds? Why not? Lots of really silly things are already happening in this movie anyway! Although the movie never really treats itself as a serious sci-fi movie, neither does the movie seem aware of just how preposterous it is. Apply the simplest of logic and you'll be surprised at just how head-scratching it is!
But above all, the real problem is that, despite the abundance of special effects and chase sequences, it never comes off as exciting or even remotely interesting. Seeing Nicolas Cage dodging a bullet just in the nick of time was supposed to be cool, but it comes of as superfluous and just lousy. Director Lee Tamahori has a history in some bloated, overblown CGI fest, but this has to be his worst. Never has CGI-induced action felt quite as boring as in this film. The performances are nothing special at best, just plain bad at worst (Nic Cage and his mullet both deserve Razzies). The worst thing about it is that it could have at least been good as a wholly disposable but enjoyable action yarn. NEXT aims low, but misses immensely.
Rating: * out of 5.
Cage plays Chris Johnson, a man who has the ability to see two seconds (read it again: Two seconds!) into the future, enabling him to dodge car accidents, do magic tricks, and eventually escape an FBI agent (Julianne Moore) who happens to be tracking him. See, they need him to find a nuclear device and disarm it just in time. Simple logic can be applied here, and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know exactly what's wrong here. How exactly can Johnson be of good use if he can only see two seconds into the future? Did the FBI also need the assistance of The Flash to find the bomb and disarm it within two seconds? Why not? Lots of really silly things are already happening in this movie anyway! Although the movie never really treats itself as a serious sci-fi movie, neither does the movie seem aware of just how preposterous it is. Apply the simplest of logic and you'll be surprised at just how head-scratching it is!
But above all, the real problem is that, despite the abundance of special effects and chase sequences, it never comes off as exciting or even remotely interesting. Seeing Nicolas Cage dodging a bullet just in the nick of time was supposed to be cool, but it comes of as superfluous and just lousy. Director Lee Tamahori has a history in some bloated, overblown CGI fest, but this has to be his worst. Never has CGI-induced action felt quite as boring as in this film. The performances are nothing special at best, just plain bad at worst (Nic Cage and his mullet both deserve Razzies). The worst thing about it is that it could have at least been good as a wholly disposable but enjoyable action yarn. NEXT aims low, but misses immensely.
Rating: * out of 5.