Like "Knowing," "Next" starts out nicely, but the ending falls a bit flat. Not as flat as "Knowing," though.
Nick Cage plays Las Vegas casinos with the ultimate card-counting trick: he can see 2 minutes into the future, and when he makes a mistake, re-live that two minutes until he gets it right. He uses that trick to get the woman of his dreams, but ends up in the cross hairs of an FBI agent who wants him to help her find a nuclear device soon to go off in LA.
Spoiler: one of my main problems with this movie is the corny "it was all a dream" ending. That meme has just been used once too many, and "Next" does not make particularly good use of it. Mainly, the reason for this deus ex machina plot twist seems to be that director Lee Tamahori wanted to show a gratuitous nuclear explosion in LA. Well, then at least make it really slow mo and show us some devastation. And no, explaining it away by saying that mysteriously, Cage can see farther than 2 minutes into the future where his new girlfriend is concerned, does not make it any more satisfying.
Despite the weak ending, it's enough fun to watch once.
Nick Cage plays Las Vegas casinos with the ultimate card-counting trick: he can see 2 minutes into the future, and when he makes a mistake, re-live that two minutes until he gets it right. He uses that trick to get the woman of his dreams, but ends up in the cross hairs of an FBI agent who wants him to help her find a nuclear device soon to go off in LA.
Spoiler: one of my main problems with this movie is the corny "it was all a dream" ending. That meme has just been used once too many, and "Next" does not make particularly good use of it. Mainly, the reason for this deus ex machina plot twist seems to be that director Lee Tamahori wanted to show a gratuitous nuclear explosion in LA. Well, then at least make it really slow mo and show us some devastation. And no, explaining it away by saying that mysteriously, Cage can see farther than 2 minutes into the future where his new girlfriend is concerned, does not make it any more satisfying.
Despite the weak ending, it's enough fun to watch once.