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Review: Next
Sporting a horrendous hairstyle and worse make-up, Nicolas Cage looks spaced out in Next, writes Rashid Irani.
Next
Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore
Direction:
Lee Tamahori
Rating:
**
Novels by the cult sci-fi writer Philip K Dick have sparked such memorable movies as
Blade Runner
(1982),
Total Recall
(1990) and
Minority Report
(2002). Alas,
Next
, loosely based on his short story,
The Golden Man,
isn’t likely to be added to the honour list. In fact, this star-powered actioner is at best, mediocre.
For starters, try to figure out why a Las Vegas magician (Cage) is under constant surveillance by an FBI. agent (Moore). It seems the man has the gift --- or is it a curse ? --- to see two minutes ahead into his future. While he would like to use his freaky power to connect with a beautiful woman (Jessica Biel), who appears in his visions, the feds want him to retrieve a nuclear weapon stolen by terrorists. Baloney? Quite.
The script, attributed to as many as three writers, often leaves us in a state of dire confusion. Moreover, there is no effort to explore the emotional aspects of the magician’s life.
New Zealand director Tamahori (
Once Were Warriors,
the Bond caper
Die Another Day
) appears to be hedged in by commercial considerations. Even the chases, explosions and shoot-outs are strictly humdrum.
The redoubtable Julianne Moore is surprisingly lustreless. Jessica Biel is mere off-the-shelf eye-candy. Sporting a horrendous hairstyle and worse make-up, Nicolas Cage looks spaced out.
Recommended? Nope.
