Next

Nic Cage is really an American treasure... or should I say... a National Treasure...

I mean, this and many other videos really speak for itself. Nic Cage is just a great example of overacting and its really amazing that he just continues to get work and continues to be hilarious while doing it.

Cage is really notorious for being in bad movies and just making them entertaining. Now, to be fair, I think that Cage has done a pretty great mixture of work and I don't think all of his work is bad. I think he's entertaining nonetheless and its still a wild ride when you watch his movies.

An example of a movie that isn't a bad movie but definitely has some qualities of a bad Nic Cage movie is Next.

Based off a science fiction short story, Next is the story of Chris Johnson (played by Cage) a magician in Las Vegas. Johnson is special because he has the ability to see two minutes into his own future. He's able to see things before they happen and he uses that to be a successful magician and keep a low profile as he doesn't want his ability to be discovered.

Meanwhile, a Russian nuclear bomb has been stolen and the FBI is looking for it. Special Agent Callie Ferris (played by Julianne Moore) has heard rumors of Chris Johnson and wants to utilize him to find out where the nuke is prior to its detonation and save the US from facing a horrible event like that. But Johnson is very tentative to have his ability used for the gain of government. I guess there's a backstory to that but they don't really go into it at all.

All the while, Johnson keeps on having visions of a diner and a woman coming into his life. This woman is played by Jessica Biel and she is your damsel in distress for the evening, Liz Cooper.

Though they have never met, Johnson is insistent that he's meant to be with Liz without knowing anything about her.

What follows is really one of the most uncomfortable and forced romances. Just watching Cage and Biel, a woman almost 20 years his minor, try and fall in love, and in a matter of like 10 minutes, not even joking about that, is both unconvincing and actually kind of creepy at times.

The truth is, Cage is actually pretty mellow in this movie, he doesn't have the over-the-top performances that you've seen, if not you saw in the video above. Instead he has a very low key and a little bit creepy performance of him delivering these really weird lines and giving these really creepy looks, especially putting into account his hair in this movie.

So Nic Cage and Jessica Biel "fall in love" but they're torn apart by the terrorists trying to stop Johnson from helping the FBI and being on the run from the insistent Callie Ferris.

And when I say insistent, I mean really, REALLY insistent. She is convinced that the only way to stop this nuke is to get this guy who they can't even prove actually has this ability. Sure she really thinks he does, but her FBI friends and bosses all are skeptical. I'm actually kind of amazed that she gets away with all of this because I mean, yeah he does have that ability, but the other people at the FBI don't know that. Any normal person would have fired Ferris on the spot. But some way or another, she gets away with the whole, this guys psychic so we should follow him plan.

On top of that, she's kind of a boring character. She's just the FBI agent. She has no character outside of that. And that's kind of a theme among all the characters. Jessica Biel is just the damsel in distress. The terrorists are just your run of the mill bland terrorists. Even Nic Cage is just your hero. We don't know too much about him besides the fact that he can see 2 minutes into his future and that's cool.

And that's really what the movie focuses on. Like I said in my review of Underworld, the focus isn't so much focused on the characters or the story so much, its more focused on the effects and the action that goes along with these amazing individuals.

And I will give the movie credit, the effects and use of Johnson's clairvoyance is actually done really well. Its half the reason I think this movie is actually kind of a fun movie. The way that the movie utilizes his time viewing abilities and the way he uses it to fight terrorists is done very very well.

And the funny part is, the movie doesn't really try to be anything more than a mindless action movie. Like I said, the characters are pretty lame and one dimensional and there's nothing incredibly interesting or worth investing in.

And the weird thing is, this movie could have been longer, it could have had more in it but it limited itself to 90 minutes. Honestly, it feels like a two hour pilot to a TV show, and I kind of feel that's where they should have put their effort into instead of a movie.

I mean the prospects of a TV show about a clairvoyant guy working with the FBI to hunt down terrorists, I'd watch the shit out of that, especially if it starred Nic Cage. I know it probably won't star Nic Cage but can we make this happen?

Anyways, Next is a 90 minute pilot to a TV show that doesn't exist. Its got a lot of good action with characters with no story or emotion, and Nic Cage's hair is really kind of awful. However, it is a dumb action flick worth giving a watch if you like the sci fi genre and are looking for something different.

I'm going to warn you though, the ending is bullshit. Complete bullshit.

But those are my thoughts on Next. What do you think? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24. There you can send your thoughts on Next and other movies to me directly and send me requests for future films to review on my blog. Follow me to get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of the blog.

I'll leave you with this. Since I just wrote my Underworld review and Nic Cage is in this one, there must be some kind of connection. Here's Nic Cage responding to rumors that he is a vampire. Its not a great video... I'm sorry I'll get a better video next time. Enjoy!