Cris Johnson (Nicolas Cage) earns his living with a seedy Las Vegas magic act, but his ability to see a few minutes into the future is authentic. Government agent Callie Ferris (Julianne Moore) knows this, and relentlessly recruits him to help thwart a terrorist group from detonating a nuclear bomb in the heart of Los Angles. Torn between protecting the woman he loves and his resistance to being exploited by the FBI, will the reluctant hero join the desperate race against the clock daring to see what’s Next?

Adapted from the Philip K. Dick’s short story The Golden Man by Gary Goldman (Total Recall), I bought into Cris Johnson’s ability to see about two minutes into the future. Although it is somewhat challenging to follow that prescient logic when it’s played out onscreen, it’s an interesting concept.

Denise Chaman’s casting is engaging and convincing: a put-upon Cage; his thoughtful love interest Liz nicely played by Jessica Biel; Tory Kittles playing FBI agent Cavanaugh who puts up with the harshness of his superior, Callie Ferris; and it’s always great to see José Zúñiga. Moore plays FBI Agent Ferris as a hard-driving bitch on wheels trying to prove herself, but with a slight restraint that keeps her interesting. With only modest makeup, her freckles show (yay!). And she doesn’t stupidly push her lips forward like she does in a lot of her films when she’s glossed up; it’s great to see Moore cut loose here.

With lackluster promotion, the film was made for $70 million but failed to break even worldwide. Yet the production is strong and some of the action sequences crackle with excitement, especially an avalanche near a lodge. And the Havasupai Reservation filming location is stunning in its natural beauty; director Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) captures the site splendidly. Mark Isham’s (Crash) original music harmonizes with the film very well. But most of the editing of the dialogue exchanges is stilted and unnatural.

More serious, it’s when screenwriter Goldman ups the ante of Cris seeing into the future in more complex ways that things get hard to swallow. This was too much for me; it seemed to abuse the premise and his delicate gift. Near the end, Cris stakes out an area set with bombs and . . . well, that would be a spoiler. Let’s just say that the climax seems a little cartoonish.

The film bulldozes toward an outrageous ending, but admittedly is still interesting. I’m a bit of a sucker for great action sequences, gunfire and awesome explosions; they were very enjoyable. A little seeing-two-minutes-into-the-future can go a long way if it remained that simple, but the film goes a bit crazy with this notion and deflated my willing suspension of disbelief.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. The over stylized picture has issues. Colors are oversaturated in a zany "action-film" tone, but the overly zealous yellow look drains the film of emotional reality. Nuclear greens and fiery oranges cook the landscape. Blacks are deep though the contrast is pumped up with blooming whites (in windows, but not the highlights on actors’ faces) and blacks that crush. This strange look is intentional. While this makes the film flashier, it obscures small object detail in many exterior scenes, with some scenes looking sharper than others.

Grain is consistently under control. And the widescreen compositions look nicely balanced. Close-ups reveal fair finely grained textures, but it should be better. The print is extremely clean and consistent. The CGI effects fooled me and are incorporated very well. Edge haloes mar some high contrast edges such as on the FBI’s truck, rooflines, and some casino marquees; the end credits are especially bad. The most distracting characteristic of this transfer is that the picture is hazy, which seemed so unnecessary and unintended. The haze is uncommon in recent Paramount films, and one may deduce that this new, high profile film had some strange authoring. The video transfer is a disappointment; perhaps the high definition release will rectify many of these problems.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

While the video transfer tanks, the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is a wonder. Right out of the gate, the audio gently wisps and whirls around the front soundstage; imaging exhibits warm depth. Most of this is music and effects during the opening title sequence. Dynamic range is very strong and impressive without being in-your-face. Dialogue is very clear and it is locked into the center speaker, although many times it did not need to be. The frequency range remains strong throughout with sounds rolling through speakers during the action sequences that seem surprisingly natural and unprocessed.

But even calm passages present sensitive sound placements. The quiet sound of a distant train resembled one that passes near my neighborhood; it sounded so real I reverse scanned to play it again just to make sure it was a sound effect. Some audible details seem to get a little lost during crowd sequences, but that’s nitpicking. Low frequency effects are smooth, detailed, punchy, and very consistent throughout; some of the deep bass effects will challenge some subwoofers. Surrounds are highly active with discrete sounds, like some very good flyovers that demonstrates fairly spacious sidewall imaging. Careful listening reveals that the audio engineers certainly did a terrific job; this is a fun mix that doesn’t upstage the film.

Other audio options are a French Dolby Surround 2.0 track and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track. English Closed Captions are included as well as subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There are four featurettes; the first is Making the Best Next Thing (18:16). Writer Gary Goldman, actors Nicholas Cage, Julianne Moore, and Jessica Beil, director Lee Taamahori, and producer Todd Garner describe the film’s intent. They tend to fawn over one another, but they seem sincere. Some behind-the-scenes clips are included as well as excerpts from the film. We learn that the film was unquestionably a challenge to make.
The next featurette is Visualizing the Next Move (7:48). Visual Effects Supervisor John Sullivan talks about the debate among the use of miniatures versus practical effects in live action versus CGI effects. Some CGI effects, frankly, were so good that, until I watched this short, I was convinced that they were astonishingly real. Specific scenes are dissected. Fascinating.

Following that is a featurette called The Next "Grand Idea" (6:54). The filmmakers talk about the spectacular Havasupai Reservation sequences from which there are many behind the scenes shots. They discuss how such an idyllic location enhances the romance between Jessica Biel’s Liz and Nicolas Cage’s Cris. We learn that shooting at the Havasupai Reservation was inspired by Cage. You’ll also find behind the scenes clips of some of the site’s tribes.

The last featurette is Two Minutes in the Future with Jessica Biel (2:29). Biel just talks about what she thinks about the concept of seeing into the future. Yes, it’s a topic that makes one think, but it feels like the questions were imposed on her, and it’s becomes simply fluff. Again, there’s fill in the form of excerpts from the film.

All four featurettes are in clean anamorphic widescreen video, stereo audio, and with options of English Closed Captions, English, French, or Spanish subtitles.

Preview trailers for A Mighty Heart, Blades of Glory, and Transformers are included.

The 96-minute film is organized into eighteen chapters.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.

Final Thoughts

There is a lot of fun to be had with this blend of science fiction, action, adventure, and romance, but some of the supernatural elements go too far and became disappointingly unbelievable. Otherwise this well-produced film is a genuine kick in the pants. The picture quality is disappointing, the audio is terrific, and some of the supplements are not bad at all. Perhaps the film might be best as a rental.