Next: A Predictable Prophecy?
Director Lee Tamahori, who seems to consider himself an action aficionado, doesn’t shy away from tailoring his films using familiar templates. “Next,” a $100 million production starring Nicolas Cage, feels more like a quest pieced together from famous blockbusters, a cinematic version of “Name That Tune.”
In an interview, Nicolas Cage, who plays a psychic burying his talent in a cheap stage show in “Next” (2007), mentioned that he finally got to play a magician, fulfilling a childhood dream. Lately, Cage seems to be living out his fantasies, from starring in the adaptation of his favorite comic, “Ghost Rider” (2007), to now playing a magician in a film based on Philip K. Dick’s “The Golden Man.”
Cage’s character, Cris Johnson, possesses the gift of precognition. He can only see two minutes into the future, but that’s enough for him to win at poker, charm women, perform cheap magic tricks, and avoid trouble when casino owners start suspecting his perpetual luck. Cris lives a decent life until he attracts the attention of FBI agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore), who has heard about a potential terrorist attack, and the terrorists themselves, who somehow know about the psychic’s existence. Both the “good” and “bad” guys use Cris’s love interest, Liz (Jessica Biel), as bait. Eventually, his gift becomes a curse.
Tamahori’s Template
Director Lee Tamahori also has a gift, albeit a peculiar one. Since 1996, the New Zealander has been making, to put it bluntly, outright duds: “Mulholland Falls” (1995) with Nick Nolte, “The Edge” (1997) with Anthony Hopkins, “Along Came a Spider” (2001) with Morgan Freeman, and “XXX: State of the Union” (2005) with Samuel L. Jackson. Despite these failures, he manages to secure massive budgets for each new project. Perhaps he hypnotizes the producers.
Believing himself to be an action expert, Tamahori freely borrows from other films. “Next,” with its $100 million budget, feels like a quest based on famous blockbusters, a “guess the melody” game. The car chase involving Cage is reminiscent of “Gone in Sixty Seconds” (2000), and Julianne Moore, in a baseball cap and bulletproof vest, shoots at terrorists with the same coldness as Clarice Starling in “Hannibal” (2001). You might want to leave “Next” after the first fifteen minutes, when a mustached FBI agent mentions a bomb filled with a terrifying amount of Russian uranium (it’s tiresome how they always use our uranium in their films).
The Allure of Familiar Tunes
However, it’s hard to leave. The challenge of identifying all the cinematic references becomes strangely compelling. It’s just a shame that you don’t get your ticket money back if you win.