Next (2007)
Movie trailer from HD Retro Trailer on YouTube
Score: 6/10
An interesting and unique take on future prediction in contrast to how most other movies portray them, and personally I think it is the best way to portray the ability, it can be a great inspiration for people to watch; personally, I would recommend only the parts of the movie where more action is shown.
⚠️ Disclaimer: Review contains spoilers
⚠️ You have been warned
Too Long; Didn't Read (TL;DR)
Showcase of future prediction ability. Credits to movieclips.com
Overall:
The final score for the movie for me is a hard 6, a fine movie carried by the singular scenes which shows an amazing CGI, but unfortunately that's it, it was simply a bad plot on amazing scenes of CGI, but still enjoyable if the three genres of action, thriller, supernatural and slow-burn romance is your taste, unfortunately that isn't my taste for such movie.
Issues:
The issue I personally find with the movie that I dislike is the slow development while the genre is an action thriller, I would consider adding the romance genre in consideration to the development that happens and leads later to the actions which later happens in the movie; the actual action and thriller part of the movie I think it is both too short and too long at the same time and it doesn't do the movie right, most of all with an ability like what Cris shows. I personally like the cunning of the agent Carrie in the end along with the relatively good ending.
Story
Score: 5/10
I think personally the story is both too long paced and too short paced, the beginning is far too long with the chase scene, although I gotta give credit for the showcase of the ability and at the same time the subtle foreshadow and misleading of the female romance and important character.
The romance development in the middle of the movie was too long, I think it should've been shorter being an action movie, while the actual action was far too short at the end.
Romance from IMDb
I dislike how Carrie and Cris entirely disregard the death of the agents during the final actions which could've been avoided if they decide to let Cris handle the investigation of the deck entirely.
At the same time, I dislike the nonexistent explanation they have given of how his ability works, and how Liz somehow extends his ability to see into the future along with the open ending given, I would've appreciated to know if they managed to solve the issue and display Cris ability once more instead of being left on a kind of cliffhanger.
Interrogation scene from IMDb
Another part would be the time inconsistency within the movie, for example in the interrogation Carrie asked Cris to observe 2 minutes ahead in order to find the nuclear weapons location, but 2 minutes isn't nearly enough time to arrive on the site of the place and neutralize it, at least logically thinking.
Overall I think the best and worst parts of the movie balances each others out, hence why the score is 5/10.
Characters
Score: 4.5/10
Some of the character's acting are amazing along with their description and personality, while others are particularly lacking.
Agent Carrie's cunning is particularly overlaid and I think it shows her intelligence and confidence very well, particularly in the ending where it looks like she is already expecting Cris with her singular question: "ready?", in contrast Carrie's boss development and acting is lacking, as there doesn't seem to be a consistency with his character and personality, at one point he emphasized to her the importance of time in the situation with the nuclear weapons, but in the next moment he gave her 5 days to get Cris Johnson, I think that's particularly inconsistent with his character.
Agent Carrie picture from IMDb
The protagonist's personality is also weirdly written; personally, his personality gave me an awkward feeling of unpredictable, though the message of freedom which his character is meant to give is well taken and understood, since anyone with such an ability would be a great asset to anyone.
I think my rating will have to be slightly lower after considering the such inconsistencies.
Visuals
Score: 8/10
I have to give the visual a good score, because the representation of the future prediction simply gives a higher priority than the details (footage in the previous section), but there are points that lowers the score overall.
The shaky camera during the final shootout is pretty bad, alongside the lighting in the ship scene, both of those could've received more attentions.
While I understand the reason for them having such lighting and camera action is due to the movie being tagged as thriller, supposedly giving the spectator a feeling of nervousness, on the opposite side those effects only gave more confusion rather than nervousness and excitement.
Audio
Score: 6.5/10
I will emphasize the audio on the last shootout scene, they did their job amazingly in that scene in contrast to the visual, it was due to the audio that I felt a certain nervousness wondering Cris and Carrie will actually succeed or not in rescuing Liz from the terrorists... But that's all!
I don't think I have a good opinion about the audio in any other scene, as it feels like it wasn't even worth remembering, since I am writing this right after finishing the movie and I can't remember noticeable audio in the first hour of the entire movie.
Either way the score will have to drop due to the last point, even though the last scene helped greatly maintaining some of the score to a sufficient level.
Enjoyment
Score: 6/10
Personally I enjoyed only enjoyed the action and thriller parts of the movie, along with the displays of the supernatural ability by Cris.
I didn't enjoy the other scenes like the romance scene, which could've even been the main focus of the movie at this point with how large of a chunk it took. I think I will rate my enjoyment a hard 6 out of 10, largely carried and boosted by the action and ability shown during the movie.
Cris stops a soldier from shooting before needed. Source: IMDb
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