Theatrical Review of Knowing

" Longtime fans of the genre will be excited by the decidedly non-Hollywood ending.

Theatrical review

By Jason P. Vargo
First published Mar 20, 2009

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Fans of TV´s "LOST" will get a kick out of "Knowing," the new Nicolas Cage end of the world disaster flick. Not because Cage or female lead Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne from TV´s "Damages") crash land on a mysterious island or they travel through time. Nope. The movie revolves around a specific set of numbers which mean something and, ironically, nothing all at the same time.

In 1959, William Dawes Elementary School students put together a time capsule to be opened in 50 years, or 2009. Inside are pictures from the kids about what they think the future will look like. Spaceships and flying cars seem to rule the day…except for little Lucinda. She scribbles numbers all over a paper. Fast forward fifty years and the son of MIT professor John Koestler (Cage) takes the page of numbers from the capsule. This leads Dad on a quest to figure out what they mean.

What director Alex Proyas' film does so well is combine science fiction, science fact and biblical plot elements to create a cohesive, nearly believable picture despite unanswered questions and plot contrivances. There is a singular question at the heart of the story: do you believe everything happens for a reason or the universe is left to chance. The film itself never really gets around to answering head on. Really, different plot elements support each side of the equation. John's son Caleb receiving the paper with numbers of...never mind. That would be a spoiler. It isn't coincidence someone with John's IQ and education background (he teaches at MIT) stumbles into this entire adventure. He has the brains, the means and the passion to figure it all out.

Cage, in full dour mode, doesn´t quite fit the mold of prophet or hero. In fact, he´s largely a pawn of the plot, moving him from point A to point B when it needs him to in order to showcase whiz-bang special effects and an offensively loud sound mix. Take, for instance, a character trait shown in the background only: his home. Paint is peeling, ladders are in a state of suspended animation inside and wallpaper is half up and half down. This is a man who has lost the will to keep up his home after the death of his wife, yet suddenly feels the compulsion to fiddle with these numbers ad naseum? Spin that out into stalking Lucinda´s daughter Diana and "being in the right place at the right time" and we´re in full-on coincidence mode, or, in the parlance of the movie, events being left to chance.

(Besides, with the ELE-to borrow a phrase-about to hit, what can one man do, exactly? The finale could have taken place without the preceding two hours of material rendering John essentially worthless in the story.)

"Knowing" does a good job at keeping the events moving in a straight forward, linear path with little obfuscation about what´s actually happening. The why, though, is another question. That´s a conundrum the story never seems interested in explaining, especially at the end. The damnedest thing about the movie? It almost doesn´t matter the words are never uttered to flesh out the last 20 minutes. Because of the visuals-admittedly beautiful-we can draw our own conclusions from the material. There are shades of "The Fountain" and the story of the Garden of Eden, among others, included.

It turns out to be the Biblical angle which is hardest for the movie to pull off. Solar flares, radiation…yeah, we can wrap our minds around them. Even John being estranged from family over faith works, considering he´s a man of science. Without the lead asking the requisite questions, he comes off as nothing more than a dead beat dad. After all the hardship to accomplish a goal, to let it go so quickly and easily is insane. (I´m sure a case can be made for John´s faith in what he sees, but Cage doesn´t have the acting range to show it without dialogue.)

Just about the only truly disappointing aspect of the finished product is Byrne´s Diana. She serves no legitimate purpose other than to have a female lead for Cage to play against. There is no romantic aspect to their relationship, nor does her daughter Abby become a pivotal part of the action. Truth be told, her addition to the plot only elongates the movie, complicating it when it doesn´t need to be complicated. Imagine being told a fatal car accident is going to happen and, in the end, the pile-up is so big, there´s nothing you can do about it. However, because you know what will happen, you try to prevent the tragedy. Diana is the initial information about the crash: kinda useful but ultimately pointless since the entire endeavor is too big to stop.

Talking about "Knowing" while skirting around what it´s actually working toward is a bit tough. Let´s leave it at this: longtime fans of the genre will be excited by the decidedly non-Hollywood ending. On the scale of 1 to 10, "Knowing" rates a very weak 7 out of 10, standing up to the same amount of scrutiny as "LOST"s legendary numbers. That is to say, not a whole lot.

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