Knowing – Movie Review

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SPOLIER ALERT: This review contains key plot elements and a discussion of the end of the film. DO NOT read further if you plan to see this movie.

What happens when you take Final Destination, add The Number 23, The Happening, and War of the Worlds? You get a crazy-ass film like Knowing.

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Nicolas Cage helms yet another movie that becomes more and more absurd the longer it runs (see Wicker Man for evidence of this).

What may have started as a genuinely good and idea in its early stages of development becomes convoluted and downright silly toward the end. I was with the movie for the most part, watching intently, curious as to where it was leading to.

And then the end started.

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But before that, it was an intriguing concept. Fifty years earlier, a young girl places a handwritten page covered in numbers in her school’s time capsule. Fifty years later, Nicolas Cage’s son (Chandler Canterbury, who’s quite good) gets the paper and Cage goes on a wild goose chase to discover what the numbers mean.

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And he does, which results in him being present at several pretty cool-looking disasters. But as the film moves along, you start to wonder where it’s headed. This becomes apparent once it’s revealed that the end of humanity is coming. Will Cage be able to save us from disaster?

He saved San Francisco in The Rock, saved history twice in the National Treasure movies. But can he do it again? If only it had been that clear-cut.

Taking a page from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the explanation for the numbers and the end of humanity is revealed: Aliens! Yes, that’s right. Aliens knew the end was coming, so they chose Cage’s son and the granddaughter of the girl from 50 years before who wrote the numbers to come with them.

That’s right. The aliens abduct two children and a couple rabbits, in a sort of intergalactic Noah’s ark homage, and take them to another dimension to repopulate the Earth.

And Nic Cage? Well, he burns to a fiery crisp just moment after reuniting with his estranged family. Good times are had by all.

As far-fetched as the premise was at the start, the end took me out of the movie. I was no longer able to suspend my disbelief as it were and really experience the film in its entirety.

Knowing fails to keep the viewer’s attention to the end. And for that reason, I cannot give it anything higher than a D. Maybe Cage should stick with the National Treasure franchise from now on.

Oh, and count the number of times Cage’s character takes a drink of booze in the movie. It becomes rather amusing after a while!

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