Knowing

If you want to go into the movie "fresh", do not read this. Spoilers may be peppered within the following review. I did my best not to give to much away. I was highly anticipating this movie. I did not get the chance to see it in theaters, but the Blu-ray experience is just as good. I was disappointed when I heard mixed reviews about this film. After hearing "it was just ok" again and again, I did not expect such an original story with great directing. Despite the few bad reviews, I was still excited to see this movie. This movie is dark. It is quite morose at times. There are many sequences of terrible tragedies which will burn images into your mind. The special effects are very well done. The directing was perfect for such an eerie movie. Acting was solid. Nick Cage did very well. Finally he picks a great script with a concrete plot. The movie seems longer than it is, but in a good way. So much happens. I didn't want it to end. Just when it started to slow down, a huge twist or action scene popped in and blew me away. Many people complained about the end of this film. I believe the end of this movie completes it in such a way that I never would have thought. I did somewhat see the end coming, but it took it to a completely different level that I was not expecting. That's what I loved about this movie. Just when you think something is about to happen, it happened bigger and better than expected. Then it takes it further and completely pushes the limit. Knowing is one of the more powerful movies I have ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and I was almost brought to tears by the powerful depth and intensity of the plot with the characters involved. Some of my favorite movies are Stay, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Fountain, Sunshine, and anything by Wes Anderson. You owe it to yourself to at least check out this movie. If you are a Cage fan you will love this movie. He hasn't played such an intense role since 8mm and Face/Off. The better of the many movies I have seen in the past five or so years. Well worth it. Read more

This is the best film I have seen this year! I wish I had known more of what this was about because it is the type of film to be experienced in a theatre. It is very hard to categorize this film. I call it a science fiction-disaster thriller. It starts out like a horror film with a very wierd girl and a time capsule that is perserved in 1959. It contains letters written by children and is opened in 2009. Each of the present day children, including Nicholas Cage's son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury - who gives an awesome performance), gets a letter. Caleb gets the letter from the wierd girl that contains nothing but numbers. But soon we find out the numbers are days and location numbers of all disasters from 1959-2009. Two are shown in the film in spectacular fashion. Caleb and his dad eventually find the relatives of the wierd girl who wrote the letter in '59; a woman and her child. I will not spell out the whole story here but the two disasters we see and all the others mentioned lead to a day in 2009 that earth will never forget. The last scene between Caleb and his dad is simply heart breaking. The last disaster is visually impressive as well. The ending will inspire you. Truly a movie I will not forget and can not recommend highly enough. Read more

Any time a viewer goes to the movies, he or she brings her own personal experiences, belief system, self-identity--all the things that make us who we are. One set of beliefs this particular film, "Knowing," addresses is spirituality. Another is the age-old debate: Is the Earth determined by randomness or is its course affected by determinism? "Knowing" definitely offers a conclusion. An amazing thing--to me--is the negative reaction that films and books receive if their theme concerns spirituality, particularly established religion, and specifically Christianity. Just what happened in these lives to make religion so untenable and negative? Though not in-your-face blatant, "Knowing" is definitely a movie threaded with Christian theology. Nicholas Cage is a college professor of physics at M.I.T. The important lecture the viewer is privy to is a review of the long-standing, unanswerable debate involving the theories of determinism and randomness. Was the earth deliberately set into motion, or did it just happen? At one point, done through subtle directing, Cage's character is a religious believer--after all, he grew up in a home in which his father is a pastor. But there is a schism between them now caused by the death of Cage's wife in a catastrophic hotel fire. Why? Cage has no answer other than to let his religious beliefs expire. Since then Cage has languished during his private time, relying on alcohol to appease his loss-stricken soul. The premise of this film is to show the reaction and spiritual evolution of one human when faced with a final eschatology. But getting there includes the viewer in this trek to the truth. We watch Lucinda, an important early character, concertedly write a series of numbers, front and back on a blank sheet of drawing paper, in a 1950's classroom. She is responding to the teacher's instruction: Draw what the Earth will look like in fifty years. These drawings will be placed in a time capsule, to be opened in fifty years. Fifty years later Nicholas Cage's son draws the numbered sheet. He too begins to hear the Whispering Ones. Through a determined act? a random one? Cage's character begins an exploration of the shocking meaning of these numbers. Are you seeing the thread being woven before you? Reaching the final scene of the film is much like opening a Chinese puzzle box. The final solution--the final truth--lies inside the last box. This final truth is not included in biblical literature except through suggested possibility. Cage's last scene shows he has definitely returned to the beliefs of his father. Again, the spirituality of the film is definite, but not smashingly presented. I have merely picked up those threads to present in this review. Back in context, they are much less noticeable. As for Nicholas Cage: He is not my favorite actor, although I like most of his work. In my humble opinion this role is his best and one he approaches quietly and thoughtfully. Cage does not overact (as he tends to). His sobbing scene is so genuinely acted, he had me sobbing with him. I like this Nicholas Cage--this subtlety he brings to the role. He "gets" the premise of the film. Because I would have labeled Cage a Hollywood type in political and religious beliefs, his acceptance of this role and his portrayal of it really are surprising and even astonishing. "Knowing" is a film of questions and an answer. Is it the answer you bring to your viewing? That answer probably will determine whether or you like the film. Read more