Toon’s Review: Knowing – 7/10

A through and through solid film that shocks, awes and then some, it’s an intelligent and thought provoking twist on a tired apocalyptic genre where Proyas’ skills as a director shine through in a very engaging experience. However, personal derivations of the very peculiar ending and lack of emotional credibility pull this back from being a great movie.

Review

I am still not sure what I would rate this movie out of my usual ten point scale; however what I am certain of is how good this movie felt. Watching ‘Knowing’ was simply a superb experience, it was genuinely enticing, intriguing, thrilling and thoroughly ponderous at just the right times. Alex Proyas, responsible for directing the cult hit ‘Dark City’ as well as the futuristic thriller ‘I, Robot’, was on his finest form here delivering an exciting thriller that will honestly have you at the edge of your seat with your spine tingling in curiosity and uneasiness. Simply a very well made film.

Nicholas Cage plays a very deep character; an MIT Professor entangled with thoughts of his family and the order of the universe.

‘Knowing’ follows a somewhat classic end of the world plot, which contains the typical “prophecy” sort of material falling in to the hands of an unassuming intelligent man. I do not wish to reveal much because what makes the film feel so brilliant is the sense of discovery that you are engaged in throughout along with the characters. The prophecy in this case is a piece of parchment filled with numbers written in the 1950’s by a very disturbed young girl named Lucinda Embry who was haunted by unbeknownst whispers in her head. The parchment, along with many other drawings from children in her school was locked away in a time capsule. Opened fifty years later, the parchment falls in to the hands of young boy named Caleb (Chandler Canterbury), who’s father John Koesler (Nicholas Cage) comes across the meaning of the numbers by chance. The seemingly random numbers correspond to every major disaster that has taken place in the world in the last 50 years, and as John finds out, in the upcoming days as well.

The film from the start sets itself apart from others in this genre by taking a philosophical and intelligent route, posing the question of whether the universe acts in a deterministic or random manner.