{"id":243,"date":"2007-05-19T02:09:12","date_gmt":"2007-05-18T18:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/movies\/2007\/05\/19\/next\/"},"modified":"2007-05-19T02:10:54","modified_gmt":"2007-05-18T18:10:54","slug":"next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/movies\/2007\/05\/19\/next\/","title":{"rendered":"Next"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicholas Cage
\nManaged to catch Next starring Nicholas Cage (last seen in Ghost Rider), Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel among others at IOI Mall. The story has a good premise \u00e2\u20ac\u201c about the ability to see into the future, albeit with a twist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the protagonist can do so only for 2 minutes, and only if it involves his future. Unfortunately, the noble guardians of the USA, led by Julianne Moore do not know about it and relentlessly pursue Frank Cadillac aka. Chris Johnson (Nicholas Cage), the one who can see the future. The US is under a threat of nuclear explosion and without a clue on how to proceed; they decide to put their chips on Cage, who is a stage magician in Las Vegas. Yeah, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how they plan to save 8 million people.
\nJessica Biel
\nCage has known about his ability since young and have kept a low profile. He gambles and wins enough just to sustain his life whenever required. However, recently, in his visions, he keep seeing a young woman (Biel) in the future which is beyond the 2 minute limit he has. Thus he spends every morning and night exactly at 8.09 at a caf\u00c3\u00a9 where he is supposed to meet the woman.<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ask me how, but it seems the bad guys are also chasing after Cage due to orders from their boss. So, our hero has to escape from the good guys and the bad guys. <\/p>\n

To cut the story short, Cage was suspected of cheating and attempted robbery at the casino, and he managed to escape from the casino\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s security with well placed positioning (since he can see his future, he can avoid be captured). It was fun watching him escape, even though it looked a bit unbelievable. Just before the FBI catches up with him, he was able to find out from Moore the reason they want him and he declines to help her. There goes patriotism down the drain. He escaped from the FBI due to his 2 minute head start at the crucial times and decides to go to the caf\u00c3\u00a9 in case the Biel arrives.
\nJulianne Moore
\nAnd she does. He manages to hitch a ride to out of town with her and gets to know her better. The spend a night at a motel and the next morning, the FBI (who managed to trace them) were able to convince Biel that he is a mentally ill person and ask her to drug him. She agrees but tells him the truth at the last minute back at the motel. The bad guys (who were tracking the FBI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s movement) were waiting for the right to get rid of Cage.<\/p>\n

Cages tells Biel the truth and as danger lurks nearer. Being able to see the future does have its benefits, and Cage uses them fully to plan his escape. He leaves Biel in tears and with instructions on what to do. However, in an act of saving Moore, he gets caught.
\nStorming the terrorist hideout
\nThe bad guys grab Biel, while the good guys try to use Cage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to identify the nuclear device\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s location. Cage ends up seeing his beloved Biel dying and escapes from the FBI to save her. The bad guys try to use her to lure Cage out. However, Cage manages to identify their location at the harbour and informs the FBI. The FBI move in to thwart the terrorists, with Cage in tow, hoping to save Biel. <\/p>\n

After a long sequence of gunfight, a small team of good guys (Moore and Cage included) manage to corner the bad guys who have taken Biel hostage into a ship. They manage to save Biel, but unfortunately all the bad guys are dead. So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up to Cage to save the world. And for no reason whatsoever, Cage realized he has made mistake (don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ask me how) and the device explodes, killing every one of the 8 million or so people in the city!
\nJulianne Moore
\nWait a minute, not so fast\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6the next scene sees us back at motel as Cage and Biel lie bed and one can hear the audience groan. Cage has foreseen the future far beyond his 2 minutes limit and realized that in order to save him and the girl; he has no choice but to help Moore locate the bomb. The End. <\/p>\n

Well, what can I say, the story seem to be left hanging and we assume Cage the hero did find the bomb, thus all\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s well in the land of dreams. I felt that the audience was waiting for more and surprised to see the credits run. I wonder how many realized the names were scrolled from bottom to top.
\nNicholas Cage and Jessica Biel
\nI would say the story is about a reluctant hero and his sacrifice for a newfound love. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about an individual\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s freedom against the freedom of millions. But it could have been more. It had the built-up of the series 24, with twists and multiple futures explored. Problem is, the story had glaring holes and did not tie up nicely.
\nNicholas Cage and Jessica Biel
\nThe acting was wanting, especially Cage. I think he could have done more to portray his character. Biel and Moore were OK, but not excellent. Biel didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much to do, while Moore has to portray a commanding presence. The bad guys were textbook acts \u00e2\u20ac\u201c cold, Eastern European\/Middle East looks, stone-faced\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.and forgettable.
\nJulianne Moore
\nCinematography was good. Great shots of Grand Canyon and the Indian reservation, the casinos and Vegas nightlife, and also portrayal of the small town. Special effects were confined to magic acts, a staged accident scene (when Cage tries to escape from the motel), the nuclear explosion, car chase and manhunt on foot, and matrix like action as Cage evades bullets (yeah, they have it here too).<\/p>\n

By the way, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already bought tickets watch Capt Jack Sparrow and his gang next week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 1st day, 1st show. <\/p>\n

Cast: Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel<\/p>\n

Genre: Fiction, Action, Thriller<\/p>\n

Acting\t: 5\/10
\nStory\t: 5\/10
\nSpecial Effects: 5\/10
\nCinematography: 6\/10<\/p>\n

Overall Oomphness: 4\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Managed to catch Next starring Nicholas Cage (last seen in Ghost Rider), Julianne Moore, and Jessica Biel among others at IOI Mall. The story has a good premise \u00e2\u20ac\u201c about the ability to see into the future, albeit with a twist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the protagonist can do so only for 2 minutes, and only if it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}