Review of Next (2007) by Rich J — 31 Jan 2013

Chris Johnson was born with the ability to see two minutes into his own future but chose to hide it in an attempt to lead a "normal" life, until FBI agent Julianne Moore decides that he is her best chance of foiling a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear weapon in California.

Next is a fairly generic sci-fi actioner based on an interesting premise taken from yet another Philip K. Dick story, but the upshot is that it's 24 with Hiro from Heroes standing in for Jack Bauer.

There are a couple of flaws in the logic of the plot; the reason why Jessica Biel's pretty and pretty irrelevant character alters his ability and who the terrorists are and what it was they hoped to achieve are both completely ignored.

What is left though is an entertaining action flick that ticks all the no-brainer boxes. Essentially it's just a superhero film without the tights but thanks to some well executed set pieces and direction with a modicum of flair it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half if you're not in the mood for anything too taxing.