A man who can see into the near future has to stop terrorists from blowing up a city. The story concerns Cris Johnson and his unique ability: he can see two minutes into his future and the short term outcome of his every decision. This enables him to make a modest living as a Las Vegas gambler, until he gets in trouble with the law. Special agent Ferris wants to use his power to apprehend a group of terrorists, while the criminals are trying to kill him.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
One day he meets Liz, a woman from one of his visions, and recognizing her importance, flees the city with her. After spending the night in a motel, Cris is eventually captured by Ferris, while the terrorists capture Liz instead.
At first, Cris refuses to cooperate with the FBI. He has a vision of Liz being held hostage with a bomb next to her. He races to Liz with the help of Ferris. Cris tracks her down at the terrorist hideout, and uses his power to defeat the villains. Unfortunately, he doesn't manage to prevent the nuclear bomb from going off, and the city is destroyed.
The next scene shows Cris and Liz back at the motel, before Cris is captured by Ferris. It turns out we had witnessed a vision of Cris showing a possible outcome. Armed with this knowledge, Cris decides to cooperate with the FBI and help stop the terrorists.
Best part of story, including ending:
The story is interesting because it puts clear limitations to the main character's powers. Also the way the narrative device is used at the end makes it seem less like a cheap gimmick.
Best scene in story:
The diner scene where Cris intervenes in Liz and her boyfriend's argument. At first he envisions beating up the boyfriend but this only makes Liz angry and she leaves. He then decides to take a punch from the boyfriend, causing Liz to side with him.
Opinion about the main character:
I liked that Cris is not portrayed a morally upstanding superhero. He's no less confused about his abilities than we are, which helps us cheer for him.
