What if you could know now what was going to happen in the next two minutes? How would that affect your actions, your conversations, and your life? That’s the situation that Cris Johnson has lived every day since his birth. Blessed, or cursed, with the power to see two minutes into the future, he’s been hiding in plain sight as a Las Vegas magician and only using his ability sparingly to avoid attention.

His secret is revealed however, during a visit to a local casino when he “sees” another patron robbing the cash cage and shooting two innocent people. Unwilling to let it happen, he stops the man and winds up the target of an already suspicious casino security pursuit. This ultimately brings him to the attention of the federal government, which is looking for any advantage it can find in an attempt to track down a group of terrorists. And somehow, even the terrorists have gotten wind of Cris, and are out to make sure he doesn’t interfere with their plans. All Cris wants to do is live some semblance of a normal life and find out why he’s having visions of a mysterious woman that appear to defy the normal two-minute constraint on his ability.

Got all that? If you’re confused now, don’t expect actually watching the movie to help much. Given that the lead character in Next can alter the future, you should be suspicious of anything you see on the screen, because it can and will change. This effect does lead to a few dramatic moments, but can also be disorienting as the movie literally rewinds before your eyes when Cris changes a decision or action that alters the outcome.

Next features Nicolas Cage as Cris, appearing in theaters again after only a brief absence since Ghost Rider. If nothing else, I can say I found this performance much more enjoyable, though that wouldn’t be hard. Cage is still pretty much himself on-screen, so you will either like him or not based on that. Jessica Biel as Liz, the mysterious woman and love interest, and Julianne Moore as FBI agent Ferris, round out the major players. Overall the performances are good but not spectacular.

The story is penned by a laundry list of writers. It’s loosely based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, an author whose material has been mined frequently by Hollywood for science fiction inspiration. As a concept, it’s interesting, and the technique for implementing it on the screen works well enough in my opinion. The real issue here is the plot—specifically, the lack of resolution of well, any major plot points.

Without giving too much away, just be aware that if you like to analyze a story and figure out how and why things happen as they do, you will leave Next frustrated. There are at least three major questions that go completely unanswered by the film. I confess I find this puzzling. Director Lee Tamahori has shown a deft hand with action movies in the past and I didn’t find the action sequences here disappointing. It leaves me wondering why, then, he chose to avoid tying up major threads of the story in the end. The movie is a fairly short 96 minutes, so I can’t imagine it was cut for time. One can only guess that perhaps a sequel is planned to resolve the plotholes.

For all that, if the vocal reactions of the audience with which I saw Next is any indication, the average movie-goer will still find this a good option for a mindless action flick. There were plenty of gasps, cheers, and laughter at all the right times. Fortunately there’s nothing wrong with a movie simply being entertaining. The movie sucked me in to the point that the issues with the plot didn’t occur to me until I was on my way home. I guess I like mindless action as much as the next person.

Next is rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of violent action, and some language.” The violence is fairly antiseptic with no real blood in evidence. The terrorist plot may strike close to home given the events going on in the world these days, but nothing else here is terribly offensive… except the lack of resolution. Darn it, I wanted to know some of those answers!

Courtesy of a local publicist, Michael attended a promotional screening of Next.