Knowing: Review By SupermanEmpire

When seeing the trailers for Knowing at first glance it appeared to be yet another turn of the dozen vessel for A list B-grade actor Nicolas Cage. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily a Cage hater, I just accept the man for what he is, a very limited actor who is best served performing in action and run of the mill Indiana Jones knock offs (National Treasure). So when I saw he had this new film coming out, I didn’t pay it much notice...that is until I saw who was directing and producing the film, Alex Proyas. For those of you who don’t know the name you will certainly know his work...The Crow, Dark City, and I Robot just to name the most notable. Seems how The Crow is easily in my top 50 films of all time, I thought it necessary to give Knowing a try. I’m glad I did. Knowing was surprisingly original and equally surprising was its dark overtones of apocalypse and disaster. In the post 9-11 world films with doomsday themes and disaster scenes have become increasingly common and in some cases serve as example of a distasteful trend of exploitation. These examples often play upon our memories and nightmares of that fateful day. Knowing, while certainly calling upon fears...accomplishes in heightening one’s senses while not insulting or exploiting our history. Knowing serves us a fresh slice of science fiction, while at the same time using frightening overtones and iconic images to keep us on the edge of our seats. The film has a mysterious undercurrent that builds like a knot in your stomach. This eerie feeling and suspenseful turns make for a strikingly original film. Nicolas Cage gives a controlled and leveled performance, keeping his open eye surprised look, and drab (emotionless) style of line delivery at bay during the film. The part played by Cage could have easily been cast with another actor (my preference would have been Thomas Jane of The Mist) but he carries it well enough not to be a distraction or drag on the film. It begins in 1958 with the inauguration of a new Massachusetts elementary school. The school to commemorate this event has decided to gather pictures made by its students and bury them in a time capsule to be opened fifty years later. One student, a shy unsettling eight year old girl, came up with the idea and then submits her addition to the capsule...a piece of paper with coded numbers written on every inch of both sides of the paper...flash forward fifty years later and the girls addition after

being unearthed, finds its way to the fateful hands of a young student of the school. This boy brings the find home not understanding its meaning, and the mysterious doc*ment quickly catches the eye of the boys father (Cage), a Professor in astro-physics at MIT. The numbers quickly become deciphered into a code of prophetic intention, revealing the date and times of every major disaster of the past fifty years, with three dates yet to have happened. Knowing quickly becomes a race against time, fait, and inevitability. All of these factors are a familiar formula for these types of thrillers, but Proyas executes his style with pulse pounding precision, and you will find your heart beating hard in your chest during some unbelievable set pieces. These scenes hold nothing back, and bare such striking realism its hard not to feel like it was something just experienced first hand. The most surprising thing to me about Knowing was its daring content and eventual climax. Proyas goes places in his film that vary few have dared to go. I truly believe some of the harsh reviews of this film are a result of this. My best guess is that they just didn’t get the film and its intention. Proyas has provided us with a rarity...a film that, depending on the viewer and their beliefs...has a completely different ending and meaning. It is one of the first films I’ve ever seen where someone had a completely different understanding of the intent, then a separate viewer. That’s reason enough alone to see this with a friend or loved one and then discuss it afterward, you’ll almost laugh at how completely different your opinions may be, I know did. The film however was nothing to laugh at. Original and intense, Proyas has another notch to add to his film credits. This film almost seemed like the movie M. Night Shammalan has been aspiring to make ever since his success with Signs, but he hasn’t come close to Knowing.