Solar flares, aliens and Nicolas Cage. These are the makings of the movie “Knowing,” a sci-fi/horror flick from director Alex Proyas (“I, Robot”). With P. Proyas’ prior work including the ’90s cult hits “The Crow” and “Dark City,” along with “Garage Days,” he returns to his old sci-fi roots in “Knowing,” though his success in doing so becomes questionable with this film.
The movie opens in 1959 as an elementary school buries a time capsule containing student drawings of the future as they have predicted it. One eerie little girl, however, has instead frantically scribbled down an array of seemingly nonsense numbers. Fast forward 50 years, where the time capsule is opened and the numbers end up in the hands of a young boy, Caleb Koestler. The boy, still grieving the loss of his mother in a tragic fire, predicts there is some meaning in the numbers. His father, John Koestler (Nicolas Cage, “Bangkok Dangerous”), an astrophysicist, soon notices an alarming pattern amid the numbers. To his horror, he finds a list of all the major world catastrophes and the number of people who died in each of them, including Sept. 11 and the Holocaust. The shocking part: not all of the events have occurred yet.
As Koestler frantically tries to warn others of the coming disasters, his son has multiple run-ins with a group of creepy, albino-looking men who whisper words he alone can hear. While trying to prevent the upcoming catastrophes, Koestler ultimately discovers it is nearly impossible to warn or save anyone from these unstoppable catastrophes. Instead, he turns his focus to the protection of his son, who is being stalked by the albino whispering men urging Caleb to go with them.
As the plot unfolds, more holes appear than in an iron sieve. The hodgepodge of fatal disasters, “whisperers,”” Caleb’s dead mother and Koestler’s struggle between faith and science leads to unnecessary confusion. The personal battles of the main characters distract from the effect of the main plot, and as a result it is hard to decide what the film is really about. The tone wavers between a hopeless story of death, regret and the utter powerlessness of a single man and a semi-moral thriller about family, perseverance and faith in a higher power.
The acting chops of each of the movie’s characters are quite lacking. While Cage turns out some decent scenes, he hardly lives up to “leading-man status.” As an actor with a somewhat inconsistent career, Cage has turned out successful films such as “National Treasure” and “Matchstick Men,” along with totally disastrous flicks like “Ghost Rider” and the “The Wicker Man.” “Knowing” seems to fall somewhere in between, hardly a show-stopping blockbuster, but intriguing at times. It has also reached the top in cinema ticket sales for its opening weekend, which must give some credit to the film’s ability to draw an audience.
Cage followers are sure to give the movie a fair chance. Additionally, all the previews leading up to the film’s release were admittedly appealing, portraying the flick as a thrilling sci-fi adaptation. Unfortunately, the previews prove more suspenseful than the movie itself.
Setting the sinking plot lines aside, there is definitely some strikingly gruesome cinematography sprinkled throughout the film. Theatergoers will find themselves occasionally clinging to the edge of their seats as subways run off tracks and burning planes crash to the ground, resulting in piles of civilian causalities. In particular, the plane crash scene, where Koestler frantically tries to save people trapped alive in the burning rubble as shrapnel flies from every direction, is especially powerful and horrific. The sight of burning, charred and crushed bodies, however, makes the film’s PG-13 rating a little questionable. Taking the step up to an R rating would have probably been safer, and may have brought in a larger audience of viewers desiring the blood, pain and thrills of an R-rated horror movie.
In the end, this sci-fi/horror flick leaves the audience wanting. Aside from occasionally dramatic and violent scenes and scattered gruesome effects, “Knowing” is far from a blockbuster hit. The acting is just about as flimsy as the film’s plotline and the entire flick movie falls victim to its genre.
Proyas gets points for trying. The devastating and disturbing plane crash scene may be enough reason in itself to see this film. However, if you are looking for a strong flick with brilliant actors, you will be left scratching your head at the culmination of two hours of semi-resolved subplots and a clich? science fiction ending.
2 stars out of 5.
