Next‘s Terrible Twist Ending Solidifies It as a Delightfully Misguided Nicolas Cage Movie

Next is one of those movies that needs to be seen to be believed. 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. Why do I love Next so much? I think it’s because it almost works as a concept, but its execution is utterly baffling, full of multiplying Nicolas Cages and uncomfortable relationship dynamics, with a muddled message about governmental overreach on top. That’s exactly what allows it to remain such a great watch with friends, 15 years later, and it’s also what keeps me coming back, wishing that the movie was more than it ended up being.
The 2007 film, directed by Lee Tamahori, is the story of Cris Johnson (Cage), a Las Vegas magician with the much more fun stage name “Frank Cadillac.” He explains later, in a line that I think was meant seriously but could just as easily be a joke, that the name is a combination of two things he really likes: Frankenstein and Cadillacs. 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. It must mean something, he supposes, so he visits the diner twice a day to try and find her. At the same time, there’s a missing Russian nuclear bomb, which has been stolen by terrorists with unclear motivations. Both the terrorists and Julianne Moore’s NSA Agent Callie Ferris are focused on finding Cris, with the latter hoping that Cris can help the NSA find the bomb before it explodes and the former seeking to neutralize the threat Cris poses.
Cris’ pursuit of Liz creates the first problem with this movie. I’m not sure what would have made this romantic relationship work, but having Cris stare at Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel) as she walks into the restaurant accompanied by longing strings and a soft piano melody is…not it. As Cris convinces Liz to give him a ride to Flagstaff, stopping along the way at a Havasupai reservation where she teaches, it’s not only the one-sidedness of their relationship that bothers me, it’s the condensed timeline. 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. (And that’s not even mentioning the age difference.)
Nothing, not even the last two years, could have prepared me for the end of this pic.twitter.com/DinBnJ9gN3
— Jasmine (@_jasminebaba) March 29, 2022
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. Note that this woman has spent about 24 hours with Cris. He must be a master in bed for her to fall in love with this creepy alleged criminal. I like bad boys too, but this relationship was founded on a few conversations about free will vs. destiny and a shared appreciation for rain. The whole love story is so unnecessarily uncomfortable, especially considering that we see that Liz has a stalker ex-boyfriend seconds before Cris makes his move at the diner. Give Liz a break!
Besides the strange relationship dynamics, one of Next’s key tools is Cris’ visions, though they’re portrayed with varying success. 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. What’s frustrating is that there are some interestingly crafted sequences, such as Cris pulling a slot machine hammer to hit the jackpot and create a distraction, that use the character’s precognition as a superpower and not a melodramatic plot device. The casino escape sequence in general relies less on “replaying” scenes with camera tricks as it does showing us Cris’ power through his near-misses with security guards. This doesn’t always work—like when he’s literally dodging bullets or barely ducking under a falling car with the gusto of a ground-punch—but there’s dramatic potential. And potential for unintentional humor, surely, as Cris fights Liz’s ex like Peter Parker figuring out his spidey sense, countering every punch with an avoidant swerve.