Review of Knowing (2009) by Melvin W — 20 Dec 2012

John Koestler: The numbers are the key to everything. .

"Knowing is Everything...".

By no means is Knowing a perfect or great film, but it isn't nearly as bad as everyone claims it to be. In fact, I've always enjoyed this movie. Sure it's silly in ways, sure the ending leaves a lot to be desired, but come on this is a visual masterpiece and an extremely interesting take on the whole doomsday, apocalypse prophesy. There's a lot of people out there that just won't like it no matter what because of Nicholas Cage and the obsession that goes along with hating the guy. Is he great in this movie? No, but he isn't bad either, and movies like this don't call for amazing acting. They call for silliness from the actors, so Cage fits the bill perfectly. .

50 years prior to the events that unfold an elementary school buried a time capsule to be dug up 50 years into the future. The children of the school were to draw a picture of what they thought the future would look like and then 50 years later, the future kids would get to see them. One girl, Lucinda, didn't draw a picture. Instead, she wrote endless, "random" numbers. When the capsule is dug up a little boy named Caleb gets Lucinda's numbers. He takes it home and his father who is a M.I.T. professor decides to try to decode the number sequences. When he does, he is left with startling information.

Whenever this movie is brought up around me, it is constantly ridiculed for its stupidity and silliness. When in fact this one of the more serious doomsday movies you'll probably ever see. Silliness comes with the territory for sure though, but why is that a bad thing? It's the genre, either accept it or stop watching the movies. Like 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, and countless others; the movie is built around accepting the silly factor. Shouldn't all you of haters had learned this by now?

Overall, this is an enjoyable, entertaining, and often suspenseful movie that has good pacing, amazing effects, mesmerizing cinematography, and a nice little score to boot. It's not going to change the face of cinema or anything, but as an addition to the apocalypse thriller genre;  it's one I accept with arms wide open.