Note: As hard as I tried I realized there was no way to write this review, and explain why I was floored by this film without revealing MAJOR SPOILERS. I strongly recommend you don't read this review until after you have seen the movie yourself.
Knowing is one of the most scatter shot films that I've come across in some time. I'm not just referring to the movie itself, I'll get to that in a minute. I would like to first talk about the critical and audience response the film was met with upon it's theatrical release. When trailers began popping up, I was intrigued at the set up, but ultimately tuned out. The cons outweighed the pros. It was done by Summit Entertainment (recently known for crap: Twilight ), It starred Nicholas Cage (recently known for crap: Bangkok Dangerous), was directed by Alex Proyas (Dark City = Amazing / I, Robot = Crap), and had a cop out rating (PG-13 = Crap).
Then came the reviews, just about all were terrible except from Roger Ebert who awarded the film his highest rating. The film opened the same weekend against the bro-mantic comedy I Love You, Man and the star-studded Duplicity, so I figured it would get crushed. Wrong again, people came out in droves making it #1 at the box office. At Mike Bristow's attempt to prove me incorrect, I went into this one not knowing what to expect. Its reputation was already all over the place in both good and bad ways.
The film itself is about many different things as well. In 1959, a time capsule buried in a school contains a series of seemingly random numbers. Fifty years later the capsule is opened and the list of numbers come into the possession of John Kosetler (Nic Cage), who by pure coincidence discovers that the list actually contains the date, location, and number of deaths involved in every major catastrophe in the last fifty years. And there are still three more events on the the list that have not occurred...yet.
John spends the rest of the film on numerous quests. The first is to discover who wrote the list, and this is how he meets Diana (Rose Byrne). At first, she is about as clueless as John is to the situation, but as the film progresses she begins to realize maybe her mother was not so crazy after all. Then there are the quests of finding the remaining disaster areas. They involve a plane crash and a subway derailment. I gotta tell you I've seen disaster moments in film before, but nothing like this. The crashes are unflinching and totally realistic. People are engulfed in flames or mowed over by steel cars right before your eyes. It's fantastic and horrifying stuff.
John is a man of science that was raised by a man of God. This makes him a little skeptical to the whole fate and life after death thing ( a wife taken prematurely in a fire doesn't help either). There are numerous and interesting discussions about faith and fact. Does everything happen for a reason or does "Shit just happen?"
This all leads up to the big picture: The Apocalypse. Now, when the threat of the end of the world came up in this movie my heart sank because I assumed it would be just that: a threat. I was really intrigued and riveted by the first two thirds of this one, and now I was sure the movie was going to end on a 'let's save the day' note. But here is the kicker: "How do you stop the end of the world?" The film's answer: You don't. I couldn't believe it. It has finally happened: An end of the world movie that actually concludes with the end of the world! I was overjoyed. After all the comets, aliens, and mother nature threats, here is a film that cuts the shit and ends the right way.
I guarantee this film will not cater to all tastes, but I loved it. It is very smart, bleak, and strong stuff. If you ever wished films like The Day the Earth Stood Still were not so bland and would be great if only they had some balls, then Knowing is the film you need to see. A
P.S. Mr. Bristow, you were with this one from the beginning and I was in serious doubt. Thank you for making me see the error in my judgment. Chalk a point up for you, sir.
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