I don’t think Nicholas Cage has ever turned down a movie script. He is all over the chart going from Gone in 60 Seconds to The Family Man to his Oscar winning dramatic role in Leaving Las Vegas to the action flick The Rock. Seeing him as the leading man in Knowing gave me absolutely no indication what direction the movie would go. Action? Adventure? Thriller? Drama? Now, after seeing Knowing, I can only assume that the writers and director had no clue, either. Before viewing the movie, all I knew about it was that there was bunch of numbers that predicted tragedies. I expected an end of the world scenario facing Mr. Cage’s character John Koestler, but had no clue what was behind the potential disaster. So, I was taking a gamble going to see this movie and boy did I lose big.
The premises of the story is that in 1959 students at a new elementary school put pictures into a time capsule of what they predict 2009 will hold for the world. Everyone put pictures in except for creepy Lucinda Embry (Robinson), who wrote a series of numbers. Fast forward to the fall of 2009 when the school opens the capsule and the students each take an envelope holding the predictions from the 1959 students. John Koestler’s son, Caleb Koestler (Canterbury), is the unlucky child to pull Lucinda’s page of numbers and soon starts to experience very strange events, such as hearing whispers and seeing strange people standing near the woods by his house wearing dark cloaks. One point that drove me nuts the entire movie was that Caleb wore an ear device. At first I thought he was deaf, but he could speak and hear fine. It was pointed out he was an expert in sign language, however. Later, his father explains that words just get mixed up in his head and the device helps him, yet he isn't deaf. Um, I don’t think a hearing aid helps dyslexic children. Anyways, the device was never fully explained or needed for the plot, except as a warning to the audience that the strange people were coming.
John quickly became curious about the numbers, after knocking back a few drinks, because of his all too predictable depression. Not sure why the drinking seems so fake or forced, especially since Cage won an Academy Award for playing a drunk. Even though he has had quite a bit, John’s mental abilities are not impaired and he quickly determines, in about 10 seconds of randomly selecting numbers from the Lucinda’s sheet, that they represent the date that tragic events happen and the amount of people who are going to die. Of course, his scientist buddy believes that John is going insane, due to his wife’s recent death and pays no attention to the seemingly hundreds of incidents accurately forecasted by the paper. This is also when the movie changes from just a disaster/end of the world film to a science fiction/theology thriller.
While I expected very little when I entered the theater, I began to expect much more as the movie developed only to later realize that it bit off more than it could chew. The complex story seemed to be rushed (John figuring out this complex number puzzle in 10 seconds), yet was somehow sluggish in revealing major plot developments. At times I believe the film wanted to be bigger than just an average thriller/action genre movie like Armageddon, but the writing and acting never lived up and thus created a mess. Why both Lucinda and Lucinda’s granddaughter was played by the same little girl, I’m still not sure. Was this movie pushing faith in a higher being or proving everything could be explained in science? I have no clue. Maybe that’s the point, but I left frustrated and wished I saw Duplicity instead (I already saw I Love You, Man). To sum it up, the writing was a mess, the acting was too predictable and overdone, and the overall feel of the movie was strange. By the time the ending came, I didn't care who lived or died and laughed at the last scene. I don’t recommend wasting your money on this movie as you will leave feeling unsatisfied and frustrated. Why did this movie, having a story with so much potential seemingly just give up and follow the path of so many others? No clue and for that reason, I give Knowing a Spork Rating of:
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