Going into "Next" I really wasn't expecting much. I had read some reviews saying it was okay, and vaguely remember it coming to theaters. Maybe that's why I actually enjoyed "Next." I had no previous knowledge and didn't expect it to be amazing...I did have my hopes considering that I love most movie adaptations from Philip K. Dick short stories.

Chris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) can see the future...he can see exactly 2 minutes of his future except when it comes to her. Johnson knows his abilities well and uses them to make his living as a magician and gambling at the casinos in Vegas. When the F.B.I. learn of his abilities Agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) approaches him to help them find the location of a nuclear bomb. Johnson knows that he can't because he can only see his own future and not others...he is also tired of others trying to use his abilities for their own purposes. Running from the F.B.I. he finally meets "her." Liz Cooper (Jessica Biel) is the girl he has been seeing himself with and for some reason being around her allows him to see further into the future. With the F.B.I. right on his heels he learns that terrorists are also after him and his abilities. When they take Liz hostage Johnson has to work with the F.B.I, save the world, and save the one girl that truly understands him.

I actually really enjoyed the casting in "Next." Nicolas Cage does a really good job slipping into his role and making us believe that he truly can see into the future. Jessica Biel is perfectly cast into her supporting role...I was very excited to see Jissica Biel in a role that was a good fit for her, one that didn't make me think she was only there for her looks. The only odd casting was Julianne Moore. Her role just wasn't important enough and could have been played by anyone.

"Next" isn't a perfect movie and is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story "The Golden Man." "Next" definitely has some plot holes that don't make sense and it jumps around a good amount, causing some confusion. Sure, there are things that I would love to see changed, and that may have helped us understand a little more, but overall, I still honestly really enjoyed watching it.

Philip K. Dick novels have always intrigued me. I thought "Minority Report" was a great film...I loved "A Scanner Darkly" and even though "Next" wasn't perfect, they did a good job bringing it to the big screen and made it a very enjoyable movie.

The DVD

Video:

The video quality in "Next" is very good. There are times of soft focus, but that will rarely distract you from all the colorful goodness. The backs are great, the skin tones look spot on with great detail in close-ups and far out scenes. The colors are awesome, with great greens, reds and blues. Most of the film is spot on, with only a couple darker scenes where we lose a little detail. There are a few scenes that are actually quite bad in the CG department, which cause the film to look nice and fake. Other then that "Next" gets a great transfer!

Sound:

Here we get a 5.1 Dolby Digital track. This is an awesome track that does not disappoint. The surrounds are fill the room beautifully throughout the film with cars rumbling, gun shots ringing, and every little detail captured very well in each surround speaker. The dialogue is very good, and only a couple times is briefly overpowered by the soundtrack or especially loud scenes. The lows are awesome, with each explosion and car rumbling nice deep sounds, and the highs are good. There were just a couple of scenes with gunshots that seemed a little too high. All around a fantastic audio track.

Extras:

Making the Best Next Thing: Cast and crew chat about seeing into the future, adapting the short story, and creating "Next". They do a good job covering all areas of "Next" and giving some good amount of detail that makes a fairly entertaining feature.

Visualizing the Next Move: A very nice look at the making of the visuals of "Next." They really go into some great details about how all the special effects were created and making them look "real." Now only if the effects actually looked real then it really would have been amusing.

The Next "Grand Idea": Shooting in the Grand Canyon and creating romance between Cage and Biel.

Two Minutes in the Future with Jessica Biel: Here Biel chats with us about what she thinks it would be like to be able to see into the future and how she would use it.

Final Thoughts:

So for some reason "Next" really caught my attention. I don't know if it is just a guilty pleasure or if I just love sci-fi/action movies that much. I thought the acting was strong, the idea was fantastic and it all worked. The video was great and the audio was extremely well done. I'm going to Recommend this one just because it is worth a look to see the story, laugh at the visuals once and a while, and enjoy a great audio and video transfer. So pick it up...watch it with some friends, and I am going to go watch it again now.