Next (12A)

Time Out says

Tue May 1 2007

Vaguely derived from a Philip K Dick short story, 'The Golden Man', this daft thriller casts Cage as a Las Vegas magician turned New Age Action Hero with 'Minority Report'-style pre-cognitive powers. Unfortunately, he can only see two minutes into the future, which is a neat party trick when chatting up the girl of your premonitory dreams, impossibly beautiful teacher Jessica Biel, but not much use when a tough FBI counter-terror agent (Moore) is coercing you into predicting when and where a stolen nuclear device will destroy California. The bomb stuff is more McGuffin than apocalyptic threat, Cage's flaky screen persona spirals further into self-parody, Jessica Biel is as confused and out of her depth as her perplexed character, and Moore just barks orders and kicks ass. None of which prevents 'Die Another Day' director Tamahori from throwing everything he's got at a random string of stunts, car chases, fight scenes and shoot-outs. File with 'Paycheck' and 'Impostor', as yet another failed attempt to bring Dick's deliriously paranoid mind-set to the screen. 

Author: Nigel Floyd