Next - a Blockbuster surprise

Last night I was planning to spend the hour before Heroes watching a couple of episodes of GaoGaiGar (I don't remember why I put it in my queue, but it probably had something to do with a review on the Anime News Network), only to find that the disc I actually received was a movie called Next. Since I was all geared up to watch something, I decided to check it out anyway, even though I didn't know a thing about it, except that it was 96 minutes long and rated PG-13.

I actually ended up liking it, although towards the end I had a little trouble seeing where it was going. There are definitely worse movies that it could have been. Now I'm going to write about the plot, so beware of spoilers, including one that will absolutely ruin the movie for you if you haven't already seen it. So you probably shouldn't read this if you ever plan on see it. Which you might, since it's a good movie, and it has Nicholas Cage in it (I'm not a fan, but some people are).

Cage plays Cris Johnson, a 2-bit Las Vegas magician who supplements his income by gambling. This works because he can see into the future, but only as it pertains to him, and only two minutes ahead. Except when it comes to this one girl (named Liz and played by Jessica Biel. He eventually hooks up with her). Meanwhile, the FBI is after him because they want to use his visions to stop potential terrorist attacks. Watch the movie, because I'm not going to do it justice here (at least, not after just one viewing). If you hate being faked out, though, this movie probably isn't for you. Especially at the beginning and during the last big action scene, we're shown things happening, only to go back a little and see that it was really just Cris' vision. In fact, the entire last act of the movie ends up being a vision, a twist that I definitely did not see coming.