Paramount Pictures, Saturn Films and Revolution Studios present a PG-13 rated 96 minutes film directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Nicholas Cage (Frank Cadillac, Chris Johnson), Julianne Moore (Special Agent Callie Ferris), Jessica Biel (Liz), Thomas Kretschmann (Mr. Smith), Tory Kittles (Cavanaugh), Jose Zuniga (Security Chief Roybal), Jim Beaver (Wisdom), Jason Butler Harner (Jeff Baines), Michael Trucco (Kendal), Enzo Cilenti (Mr. Jones), Laetitia Danielle (Miss Brown), Nicolas Pajon (Mr. Green), Sergej Trifunovic (Mr. White), Charles Chun (Davis) and Peter Falk (Irv).
Las Vegas magician Frank Cadillac, real name Chris Johnson is harboring a secret. A secret that apparently is also known by the FBI and a group of Russians out to detonate a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Chris is able to see his own future at least two minutes before it actually happens which helps him to not only maintain his side show employment but keep a low profile winning at Vegas casinos. The FBI lead by Callie Ferris is trying to get Chris to join their efforts in uncovering the Russian nuclear warhead before they are able to murder over eight million people. The Russians are out to not only kill a large part of the U.S. west coast population but take down one of their main threats, Chris Johnson.
Now where would an action film be without a beautiful damsel in distress, enter Liz. Chris constantly sees her in his future and for that matter can also see her future besides his own as well. They meet in a diner over some pretty clever script writing unlike most of the film and decide to share a vehicle to Flagstaff. Along the way boy meets girl, gets girl, and potentially loses girl or does he? Could this trip to Flagstaff be their destiny or will it only be a surprise for them as well as the movie audience? At least some of the cinematography filmed in the Canyons of Arizona was breathtaking because even though some of the CGI was thrilling it tended to be a bit overboard sometimes and not all that pertinent to the story line.
As the love story between Chris and Liz develops almost as fast as the length of the movie the character development did not do as well. You can pretty much follow the story line that the FBI needs Chris's help and the Russians want to kill him before they get it. As for Liz she is sure to become a pawn in this chess game of Americans versus the Russians. All fingers point to the Cliffhanger motel ironically when truth is told and no good deed goes unpunished. One may sometimes wonder if the people we meet in our lives are fate and that the dreams in which we have predict our true destiny.
No matter what the future holds for anyone it always has a way of changing every time we look at it. This film albeit acted well by Cage has a matter of changing a little to many times for its own good. Cage is a true joy to watch on the big screen because he has developed a way of drawing you into his character but many of the others besides Moore and Biel are somewhat lost in translation along with the premise of the film. Although somewhat of a quick and disappointing climax the film will keep your attention along the way.
Moore being a bit over-dramatized at times tended to give me flashbacks to her "Hannibal" character. Biel, well she's just a complete breath of fresh air to watch on the big screen, filled with hopes of being every mans destiny. Name recognition may carry this movie in the beginning but it's true destiny will be lost in the path of more captivating films releasing soon so look to enjoy it's momentum on DVD in the comfort of your own personal telepathy. I can't predict the future but this review did take me more than two minutes to write!
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.