NEXT (Cert 12, 91 mins, Entertainment In Video, Thriller/Sci-Fi/Action, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann, Enzo Cilenti, Peter Falk.
SINCE he was a boy, Las Vegas conjurer Cris Johnson (Cage) has been 'cursed' with the ability to glimpse a few minutes into the future, and to alter his behaviour accordingly. The only person who knows his secret is old friend Irv (Falk), with whom he shares a lock-up on the outskirts of town.
When a group of terrorists led by Mr Jones (Cilenti) and Mr Smith (Kretschmann) plots to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, sassy FBI agent Callie Ferris (Moore) suggests the government taps Cris for information. Unfortunately, the terrorists also know of Cris's existence.
Based on Philip K Dick's short story The Golden Man, Next ties itself in philosophical knots, pulled tighter by the three screenwriters with each narrative twist.
At the beginning of the film, Cris can glimpse two minutes into the future, implying the immutability of fate. Yet, he can change the future – and the destinies of everyone around him – and can continue to do so, nanosecond by nanosecond, such as dodging bullets or knowing when to duck an oncoming punch (à la The Matrix).
The screwy logic implodes during the spectacular, frenetic finale, in which Cris projects multiple versions of himself into simultaneous futures to outwit the terrorists and their explosive booby traps.
Cage's placid portrayal of his pre-cog hero is succinctly summed up by Jessica Biel's love interest – ‘You are odd... charming, but odd’ – while Moore is wasted in a thankless supporting role.
DVD Extras: none stated.
Rating: ***
ZODIAC (Cert 15, 151 mins, Warner Home Video, Thriller/Drama, also available to buy DVD £20.99/Blu-ray £25.99)
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr, Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch.
IN THE sweltering summer of 1969, when America was preparing to celebrate peace and free love at Woodstock, a serial killer named Zodiac terrorised the Bay Area of San Francisco. He taunted the authorities with letter and devious ciphers.
David Fincher's exhaustively researched thriller follows the efforts of four men – homicide detectives Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Edwards), charismatic San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr) and the paper's shy cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) – to bring Zodiac's reign of terror to an end.
The men become obsessed with unmasking Zodiac, following the trail of clues for decades, edging ever closer to self-destruction.
Director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) once again demonstrates his visual flair with some brilliantly orchestrated set pieces. The nerve-shredding murder of teenage lovers in their car at the beginning of the film leads eventually to a horribly tense aerial view of a yellow taxi cab cruising through Presidio Heights, with Zodiac sitting in the back. Each time, Fincher masks the killer's identity, either by filming Zodiac in shadows or carefully framing the shot.
Like the protagonists, we're never sure whether the police are focusing on the correct suspect, chiefly Arthur Leigh Allen (Lynch). The director ensures a brisk pace despite the endurance-testing 151-minute running time and a surfeit of historical detail, culled from interviews, archive footage and Graysmith's book of the same name.
Gyllenhaal takes top billing but this is Downey Jr's film as the glory-chasing newsman who almost loses his sanity.
DVD Extras: This Is Zodiac featurette, HD/BD sizzle reel.
Rating: ****
