Next (2007)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
Written by Gary Goldman, Jonathan Hensleigh
Starring Nicolas Cage, Jessica Biel, Julianne Moore, Peter Falk
Release Date April 27th, 2007
Published April 26th, 2007
Has any writer's work been more abused by Hollywood than Philip K. Dick's work? Sure Shakespeare has been tortured and Stephen King has condemned some of the adaptations of his work but Dick, it seems, has been truly beat up in the adaptation process. For every Minority Report there is a Paycheck. For every Blade Runner, which was tortured in many ways before emerging a cult classic, there is an Imposter.
Now comes Next; an adaptation of Dick's short story The Golden Man. Starring Nicolas Cage as a Vegas lounge magician, Next abuses Dick's sci fi conceits for yet another dull witted, wide appeal, sci fi knock-off.
Frank Cadillac (Nicolas Cage) is a C-list Vegas lounge act. Using his real life ability to see two minutes into the future, Frank, real name Chris Johnson, dazzles out of town rubes by predicting the unpredictable. Chris is attempting to hide the fact that he is clairvoyant by pretending to be clairvoyant, he's worried if someone finds out they may force him to use his gift for ill-gotten gain.
The FBI, led by Agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), seems to have discovered Chris's secret. They want to capture him and use his gift to prevent a group of terrorists from exploding a nuclear weapon on the West Coast. How seeing two minutes into the future could be helpful is a question the film has an answer to but by the time it gets to it you will be rolling your eyes too much to catch it.
While Chris is using his gift to elude the FBI as well as the terrorist baddies, he finds his gift extending beyond just two minutes when he is with Liz (Jessica Biel), a beautiful stranger who Chris is convinced is his soul-mate. The two begin a tentative romance and together decide whether to help the cops or keep running away.
Next was directed by Lee Tamahori who may be best known for his non-directorial exploits. For those not in the know, the director of Die Another Day and XXX 2 was arrested in 2006 for solicitation. No he wasn't seeking a sex worker, he was the sex work, Tamahori was arrested in full drag. This has nothing to do with Next, it just makes me giggle as much as anything in the goofball action of Next.
The most notable thing about Next is Nicolas Cage's latest follicle debacle. The obviously balding Mr. Cage goes for long hair in Next and well, Nic.. long hair in back, balding in front, not a good look. Beyond the hair, Cage delivers a zombie-like, sleep walking performance ala his work in Family Man or National Treasure. Next isn't quite as bad as Cage's work in The Wicker Man but at least in that bad movie, Cage was awake and engaged.
Poor Julianne Moore. I hope she was paid well for her soul. The former Oscar nominee has made worse films than this, she is in Freedomland for god's sake, and yet she still seems to have too much dignity and class for such trash as Next.
Jessica Biel, on the other hand, is becoming right at home in this type of throwaway, popcorn trash. If you don't believe me, go rent Stealth. Yes, she was very good in last year's surprise hit The Illusionist but the rest of her resume is an ugly mixture of eye candy roles in straight to video features all of which seem to be a silent rebuke of her goody two shoes breakthrough on TV's Seventh Heaven.
One is left to wonder what happened to the family of Philip K. Dick. Do they have no control over what happens to Mr. Dick's work in Hollywood? Are they so greedy that they just don't care? Whatever the reason, it's sad how little care anyone has taken with his work. Philip K. Dick is the sci fi voice of a generation. A man who; seemingly saw the future himself and dramatized it. To watch his legacy trashed by one hack filmmaker after another is a real shame and Next is just the latest and likely not the last example.
