"Spine-tingling watch with enough intrigue and tension to grab and hold the attention, and three spectacular and horrific disasters to witness."

Man’s eternal fascination with predicting the future through long-lost symbolism, combined with this film’s refusal to be pigeon-holed into one category (thriller, sci-fi, horror etc) and its jaw-dropping catastrophic scenes of carnage are the primary ingredients that makes Knowing quite engrossing stuff to watch. In addition, technological whizz-kid director Alex Proyas’s (I, Robot, Dark City and The Crow) ability to inject something more deep-rooted, philosophically, in meaning into this project, elevates it out of the usual humdrum offerings with an ‘otherworldly’ edge.

Knowing may be played out on a grand scale, with all the awe-inspiring special effects that, alone, are worth seeing it on the big screen, but it also has a rather satisfying, small-scale humanity and emotional quality to it that nicely balances with some rather creepy supernatural moments. In effect, the film does not wander far outside of realms of plausibility - especially if you believe in predicting one’s destiny, which reinforces its disturbing, apocalyptic messages. The idea of beginning with a time capsule containing a dark mystery that was sealed shut long before is an intriguing concept in itself for a plot. The story then takes an almost 'Donnie Darko/ Final Destination' direction as fate cannot be avoided, however ‘in the knowing’ we are. Indeed man’s fragility in the greater universe is also highlighted with the ‘enemy’ not necessarily of man’s doing or extraterrestrial…

Knowing is essentially about a father-son relationship, too, but is, sadly, not free from the schmaltzy, clichéd elements that you might expect from this dynamic. Far more disturbing to witness than the cringeworthy father-son ‘together forever’ signing, is Nicolas Cage: Either the once acclaimed actor plays creepy exceptionally well, or is becoming creepier as the years roll on, is debatable. So, too, are his haunted, deadpan and, at times, indifferent expressions that border on hilarity. Rose Byrne, star of Danny Boyle’s 2007 sci-fi thriller, Sunshine, makes an attractive screen companion, although her brief performance is hardly memorable.

Knowing is a spine-tingling watch with enough intrigue and tension to grab and hold the attention, and three spectacular and horrific disasters to witness. The sci-fi 'Brief Encounters' ending may prove a little hard to swallow for some but is, nevertheless, relatively inoffensive in hindsight. You certainly feel as though you have viewed a multi-genre epic for your money, with a top-billing star (questionable acting aside) - and Knowing essentially requires big-screen viewing to be fully effective.

Synopsis

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead.

Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsules contents and the girls cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb Koestler. But it is Calebs father, professor John Koestler (Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As John further unravels the documents chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son. When John’s attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.

With the reluctant help of Diana Wayland (Byrne) and Abby, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, John’s increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster and the ultimate sacrifice.

Film Facts

Official site: http://www.knowing-movie.co.uk/

UK Release Date: 25th March 2009

Director: Alex Proyas

Writer: Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden

Cast: Nicolas Cage ('John Koestler'), Rose Byrne ('Diana Wayland'), Chandler Canterbury ('Caleb Koestler'), Ben Mendelsohn ('Phil Beckman'), Adrienne Pickering ('Allison')

Distributor: E1 Entertainment

Certificate: 15

Run-time: 121 mins

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us