M.I.T. professor John Koestler links a mysterious list of numbers from a time capsule to past and future disasters and sets out to prevent the ultimate catastrophe.
Director:
Alex Proyas
Stars:
Nicolas Cage,
Chandler Canterbury,
Rose Byrne
When motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze sells his soul to the Devil to save his father's life, he is transformed into the Ghost Rider, the Devil's own bounty hunter, and is sent to hunt down sinners.
In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes a facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity and physical appearance of a terrorist, but the plan turns from bad to worse when the same terrorist impersonates the FBI agent.
A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.
Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling "winnings." But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm.Written by
Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
All three helicopters (2 black, one white) are Eurocopter (nee Aerospatiale) AS-350 Ecureuils (Squirrels). The N-numbers were all sequential as well - N350SC, N351SC, and N352SC. See more »
Goofs
(at around 32 mins) The characters visit the Indian village of Supai, Arizona, and two of the associated waterfalls, Havasu and Mooney. In the film it appears that they park their car and walk to these locations in regular street clothes and very quickly. In actuality the village of Supai is 8 miles (through the desert) from the parking lot. Havasu falls is another 2 miles beyond that and Mooney falls is 2 more miles plus a nearly straight vertical climb of 150-200 feet to the bottom. Accomplishing this trip, at the very least, would require carrying a water supply and wearing appropriate boots and clothing. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Emcee:
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the man who knows what you're going to do before you do it. The amazing Frank Cadillac!
See more »
Crazy Credits
The end credits roll down the screen, rather than up. See more »
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward."
Lewis Carroll
Two minutes ago I foresaw my review of Next: It was not a pretty sight, so I revisited the film and wrote a more favorable review. But Next remains a mediocre thriller whose conceit is a protagonist who can see two minutes into the future. Not a bad idea from the great science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, but as a film it feels clichéd, slow, repetitive, and mostly not suspenseful. Perhaps that's because Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) sees what might happen and adjusts the present, thereby ironically sapping the surprise right out of the story.
FBI agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) needs Johnson's services to stop a smuggled nuclear bomb from exploding in Southern California (I know, you think one has already exploded and left only zombies driving expensive autos). Jessica Biel as Liz exists to have a love interest for Cage and to give a reason why he is occasionally able to see further into the future than two minutes. Why Cage allows himself to act in so many mediocre movies (e.g., Wicker Man, World Trade Center, Weather Man) since his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas is a mystery to me, although he is a producer of Next and an avid comics fan. I can't discount the power of the pocketbook.
High-speed car races and explosions occur as they always do in American thrillers although the FX is the poorest I have seen recently. The plot twist is so tacky that I rethought Perfect Stranger's and judged it genius. If I could have seen into the future before I wrote Stranger's review, I would have loved it. But seeing into the future for Next just didn't do it for meit's still a weak thriller better suited to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone half hour.
Memento you ask? Don't, because that film is such a great study of memory's trick's that Next shouldn't even be mentioned in the same review.
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"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward."
Lewis Carroll
Two minutes ago I foresaw my review of Next: It was not a pretty sight, so I revisited the film and wrote a more favorable review. But Next remains a mediocre thriller whose conceit is a protagonist who can see two minutes into the future. Not a bad idea from the great science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, but as a film it feels clichéd, slow, repetitive, and mostly not suspenseful. Perhaps that's because Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) sees what might happen and adjusts the present, thereby ironically sapping the surprise right out of the story.
FBI agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) needs Johnson's services to stop a smuggled nuclear bomb from exploding in Southern California (I know, you think one has already exploded and left only zombies driving expensive autos). Jessica Biel as Liz exists to have a love interest for Cage and to give a reason why he is occasionally able to see further into the future than two minutes. Why Cage allows himself to act in so many mediocre movies (e.g., Wicker Man, World Trade Center, Weather Man) since his Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas is a mystery to me, although he is a producer of Next and an avid comics fan. I can't discount the power of the pocketbook.
High-speed car races and explosions occur as they always do in American thrillers although the FX is the poorest I have seen recently. The plot twist is so tacky that I rethought Perfect Stranger's and judged it genius. If I could have seen into the future before I wrote Stranger's review, I would have loved it. But seeing into the future for Next just didn't do it for meit's still a weak thriller better suited to Rod Serling's Twilight Zone half hour.
Memento you ask? Don't, because that film is such a great study of memory's trick's that Next shouldn't even be mentioned in the same review.