Film Review: Next

Needing a final movie to review, I went to go see the new Nicholas Cage action film Next, this afternoon, as it was the only film playing in the area that dealt with the measure of time. The film follows Cris Johnson (Cage), and his special powers to see two minutes into the future. Through a ludicrous plot, Federal Agent Ferris, played by Julianne Moore, chases Johnson in order to use his power to stop a nuclear bomb from going off in southern California. The only interesting aspect of the film is the notion of fate and causality that arise from Johnson’s power. In seeing the future he is able to play out different possibilities, and then choose the optimal one changing the course of the future, whether that is hitting on Jessica Biel, or avoiding trains in car chases. Johnson’s visions of the future are depicted just as the “reality-based” scenes are. So, it becomes difficult for the viewer to discern which actions are really taking place in the present and which are merely in the future, and about to shift back. However, this notion of the duality of temporality and image is shattered by the twist at the end, from which we realize the last hour has been one long vision of the future…