Nicolas Cage

Next, a movie where Nicolas Cage can see two minutes into the future, is perfectly terrible. Like, it's perfect how terrible it is - especially that ending.

Sure, it’s not the most notable performance; Cris doesn’t have many “Cage Rage” moments, but it’s the combination of the good ideas in the plot and the movie’s inability to expand on any of them that makes this a unique kind of bad movie. As a fan of many Cage pictures, Next deserves to be in the pantheon alongside The Wicker Man and Knowing. The bomb is still on the loose, though, and when Cris tries to find it, it’s too late: The bomb explodes and debris flies towards the camera as the world burns. A movie that tries and fails to make a point is endlessly interesting in its own right: You don’t only get to see where it went wrong, you can discuss what might’ve made it work. Fine, but the government in this timeline doesn’t have any reason to treat Cris with kindness just because he decides to cooperate. I liken it to a twisted version of The Ring, where instead of dying within a week of watching it, you must show it to someone else within a week of watching it, just to make sure that it exists and that it’s not a figment of your imagination. After my favorite scene—where Cris multiplies himself to search the perimeter for Liz, who is a hostage now because of course she is—the terrorists are defeated. Before going on the run to find Liz, Cris has a conversation with Callie in his garage, where he talks about his experience being studied as a child. It is incredibly funny to see Cris’ car get hit by a moving train in the film’s opening chase, only for the camera to do a 360-degree turn and zoom in on Cris’ car in the distance, moving towards the tracks, the prior accident never happening—or not having happened yet. After the two spend the night at a hotel, Liz is willing to stick with Cris even after Agent Ferris tells her that he’s a sociopath. One sequence perfectly cuts to Cris’ lovesick stare as one of Liz’s students points out that Cris “looked at you like my brother looks at his girlfriend.” The added context that Cris met Liz only a few hours before adds an extra layer of absurdity. Our protagonist can see two minutes into his own future, but has a recurring vision of a woman at a diner, noting the time but unable to grasp the date.