How Premonition and Other Parapsychological Concepts are used in Movies - By: Mark Bennette

It clings to one’s mind on how various parapsychological concepts are increasing becoming the main plots in movies. Countless movies are made and some of them have this parasychological concept like premonition and precognition. It is either the hero or the villain who has this endless power and the movie shows how they cope up with this new responsibility.

It is a known fact that if this power comes in the hand of the good guy, the story will drag on how the good guy comes to terms with it and tries to take responsibility of it. Initially, he or she will be confused and will slowly try to control this power. But in the case of the villain, it is opposite. At the first instance, as soon as he gets the power of premonition or precognition; he is able to control it and use it to destroy the world. Seriously, you must have thought about this in your mind and it never ceased to amaze you.

Just a couple of days ago, I was watching the movie ‘Next’ on my CableTV and was spell-bound with the way the concept of premonition was presented in it. Right from the start of the movie, you never realize that the main protagonist has this ability of knowing what will happen in the near future. The movie ‘Next’ tells the story of a street magician Cris Johnson played by Nicolas Cage who works as a small time magician in Las Vegas. Right from his childhood, Johnson had the premonition ability of knowing what will happen in the next two minutes. He is able to look into the future of events that are connected to him.

Johnson supplements his income which he receives from his magic show by playing cards. Since he can look into the decisive future, it gives him the ability to read cards. But he makes sure not to win a lot of money as people would get suspicious of him. Interested in his premonition abilities is a FBI Agent Callie Ferris essayed by Julianne Moore.

She wants the help of Johnson to discover a nuclear bomb, which a group of terrorists are planning to detonate. During his usual card games at the regular place, Johnson prevents a robber from killing people. This naturally heightens the suspicion which the securities at the place where Johnson plays. They try to chase and catch him, but since Johnson is able to predict the moves he escapes unharmed. Following him FBI agent Ferris tries to negotiate with him and asks his help, but he runs away from her as he knows what the outcome would be.

Everyday Johnson gets this vision of meeting a girl at 8:09 am at a café. He goes regularly to the café with the expectation that he could meet her as he feel that she could be the one; his ultimate life partner. One day while waiting at the café, he sees Liz Cooper played by Jessica Biel and comes to know that she is the girl he has been getting vision of. Besides seeing the future, Johnson has the ability of seeing the outcome of what each of his actions can do to the future. So with this profound ability, he tries to get close to Liz.

Then the story unfolds how Johnson tries to help Ferris on killing the terrorist and failing their plot of igniting the nuclear power bomb. Besides foiling the terrorist plan and saving millions of life, he has to save the life of Liz who gets captured by the terrorist in the latter half of the movie.

One thing that could strike you with the feeling of awe is the spontaneous camera work and graphics. The way Johnson gets the premonition, especially in the climax screen where you can see Johnson replicating in his mind the different routes he has to take to see where the terrorist has taken Liz. It is an applaudable attempt by the director as he is able to show the difference on how Johnson is able to alter the future and the situation he is in. Truly an innovative film that shows the effect of how an ability like premonition could change the future.

About the Author

Mark is a freelance writer and columnist. He has written multiple articles on entertainment, movies, celebrities, etc. Most of his free times, he spends on watching his favorite genre of movies and sitcoms on his CableTV

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Mark-Bennette/207271

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