Knowing Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After his son receives a mysterious letter from a time capsule, a man believes the letter foretells future calamities.

Review: This may be a bit unusual, considering the hype behind numerous movies over the years, but I think this film was my most anticipated. Back in early 2002, I remember looking through upcominghorrormovies.com, and they had a section regarding movies stuck in production hell (which I'd recommend checking out) with "Knowing" being one of them. I was intrigued by the plot synopsis and thought it sounded original with a lot of promise; I would often check back to see if anyone was ever going to bring this bad boy to life. Seven years of waiting later, it finally happened and, thankfully, turned out more or less as I had hoped. Surprisingly though, this film has had a huge, polarizing effect on audiences and critics alike. I'm not really sure why this would be a love it or hate it kind of situation, but I can say a lot of critics clearly could not follow the plot judging by many of their complaints; I'm not saying this film doesn't have flaws but many gripes are unwarranted. Hopefully I can clear up some confusion, perhaps, allowing others to give it a second look and realize this is a genuinely great film with one of the more ballsy endings out there.

I absolutely love the idea behind the story as it seriously sucks you in with nearly overwhelming intrigue and you want to know more. It's 1959 and an elementary school has decided to create a time capsule that will be opened in 50 years. The idea is that the students will create drawings for the kids of the future showing them what they imagine that said future will be like. The little girl that suggested the time capsule's construction, Lucinda, instead writes a letter comprised of a giant series of numbers that we see her frantically trying to finish before the teacher stops her. Later on, after the time capsule has been sealed, Lucinda disappears until she is discovered scratching the rest of the numbers into a door. We then skip to 50 years later with a father and son combo, John and Caleb, who serve as the primary protagonists. John is played by Nicolas Cage...yeah, needless to say, I was worried when he was first cast, but it turned out exceedingly well. Mercifully, Mr. Cage gives us, perhaps, the most subdued performance in his entire career which is saying something. In fact, this is the rare instance where I think he really shows off his range by simply playing a regular guy coping with the loss of his wife and estrangement with his father. Anyway, after a wonderful shot of John-boy listening to the second, and more famous, movement of Beethoven's 7th symphony, we cut to an important plot point of the film most critics appeared to forget about: John is a professor at MIT, and he discusses how he believes the events of the universe are random or "shit happens" as he says.

Caleb conveniently goes to the same school as Lucinda and also coincidentally receives her letter when the time capsule is opened on the 50th anniversary. That night, John ends up spilling alcohol on the letter when getting drunk and catches notice of a pattern. Investigating the numbers more thoroughly, he realizes that it lists the date 9/11/01 and the victim amount that died on that day. John then copies all the numbers from the letter and feverishly traces their dates and victim counts to find it is a comprehensive list of disasters that have occurred over the past 50 years. However, the truly frightening aspect to the letter is that it lists 3 more disasters that have yet to happen. After talking it over with his skeptical friend, and pointing out that all the numbers don't add up, Johnny checks to make sure there is no way it could be a hoax by talking to Lucinda's teacher, in which we discover Lucinda is dead, and by investigating the janitors that pulled out the time capsule. At this point, strange men begin to appear to Caleb as John focuses his vigil on the day the next disaster is supposed to occur. When going to pick Caleb up from school, John has the epiphany that the remaining numbers unaccounted for were actually the coordinates where each disaster occurred and quickly comes to the startling realization that the next disaster will be right where he's at. Shockingly, a plane ends up crashing nearby with John-boy attempting to intervene somehow.

Now completely convinced that the letter is a warning of doom, John tracks down Lucinda's daughter, Diana, played by that insidious milf, Rose Byrne. You know, this could have turned into a romance flick at one point very easily with Johnny taking advantage of Caleb's flirtations with Diana's daughter, Abby. Also, let me say, I love that the actress playing Abby, Lara Robinson, plays Lucinda and Diana when they were kids (that must count for something surely). Back on track--John comes on too strong just when he had Diana interested (oh, I could tell), and wants to know if Lucinda had special powers. Of course Diana doesn't like this fiasco and runs away, but John explains to her who he is and what Lucinda wrote is coming true with two more disasters left. On the date of the next disaster, John again attempts to intervene when a train derails in a subway leaving massive devastation with him powerless to do anything.

Coming to terms with the truth, Diana is waiting for John when he comes home, and they proceed to get to the bottom of the situation with one disaster left...a date that Lucinda claimed Diana herself would die on. This is where a lot of critics missed a big part of John's character. He explains that one of the disasters on the list is when his wife was killed. He believes that if had this list earlier he could have saved her and can't accept that things are set in stone; Diana too appears to agree with that sentiment. They, along with Caleb and Abby, visit Lucinda's house she had in the woods only to realize that the victim count for the last disaster was a misunderstanding--it was thought to be 33 but was actually EE or "everyone else." Oh shit the whole world is coming to an end! The creepy men from before appear again, mess with the kids, and disappear with a flash of light. Abby and Caleb tell us that they speak telepathically and obviously Lucinda was hearing their voices.

John realizes a mega solar flare is headed toward Earth and will obliterate all life. He and Diana try to cope with the notion that they will all die and John has trouble accepting the numbers were a warning of something that couldn't be prevented. With another epiphany, John recalls the teacher saying that Lucinda was carving numbers in the door at the school and believes Lucinda knew the one safe location for the last disaster. Sure enough, the door is still there and does reveal that the last set of coordinates were at Lucinda's home in the woods. But before this revelation is realized, a panicked Diana grabs the kids and tries to take them to random caves she think could protect them from the solar flare. As John tries to catch up, a global emergency warning is issued by the government sending people into a frenzy. The creepy men appear and take Caleb and Abby, but Diana dies in a pursuit to catch them. John realizes that the creepy guys are also heading to Lucinda's house and finds the kids unharmed. We learn that the creepy men are actually aliens who plan to take the kids away from the planet before it is destroyed, but they don't want John to come since he never heard their voices...which they claim was a prerequisite to being chosen to live. In a surprisingly heartfelt goodbye, the kids fly away in a spaceship as the creepy men take an angelic form. John pulls himself together and heads home to his remaining family members where they die together as we see the Earth incinerated by the solar flare. The film then ends with all the chosen humans dropped off on a new world where they will start over in an overly obvious Adam and Eve allegory.

Okay, let me address a few of the more common complaints. I'll start with John and the fact that he represents the audience or the everyday person. People say John is stupid for running into the disasters, but you have to realize he's obsessed due to his wife's death. He absolutely refuses to accept that he cannot change things and even says this. John may be a scientist, but his rational thinking goes out the window when his beliefs are challenged and he's powerless. There are important things to consider like John believing the message was specifically for him and that surely a warning means it can be stopped. This is one of the reasons why the aliens didn't want him...he's selfish like most humans. The warning was never meant for him and his attempts to stop the inevitable demonstrate the folly of man struggling against forces he cannot hope to comprehend. John is actually a much deeper character than he appears on the surface level, and it's a credit to Mr. Cage for pulling it off without going all wicker man on us. As for the aliens predicting the disasters, it's complicated since it would mean they're so far advanced they can see the future--through remote viewing perhaps or a way to map out time itself. I know it's hard to fathom, but it's not out of the realm of plausibility as they discuss determinism. Critics confuse the numerology with this determinism interpretation of time, but the movie never once indicates that the aliens actually used the dates to know the future. They imply the numbers were a broadcast of sorts so I interpreted this as the aliens sending a signal of all disasters they saw in order to help the chosen humans avoid those moments. Keep in mind, the individual is the one who interprets the message so we don't know what the aliens really were saying; this is why Lucinda translates the numbers into dates and coordinates an American would understand. We see further evidence of this by the implication prophets of the past heard the signal and incorporated it into paintings. We also don't know why someone has the ability to detect the signal so it may simply have a connection to why the aliens even care in the first place. And no, Abby and Caleb were not the chosen "white" saviors of humanity. There were other ships all over the world and we don't know how many people were saved, but human diversity was maintained. As far as how many times the aliens may have done this or for what purpose, your guess is as good as mine. The aliens taking human form was so they could monitor the chosen people with little notice. At the same time, they went about things in a roundabout way, because they wanted the humans to come willingly rather than being taken away. The whole angels are aliens aspect has been around for a long time now so I don't see the problem. It's kind of weird, because I've heard both the argument that this film is anti-religion and overly-religious. The fuck? I see it as neither--just a sci-fi tale of the universe and forces that make us look like ants in comparison.

With that much said, there are certainly some flaws. The acting from the kids can be shitty at times, and you can tell Mr. Cage is trying desperately not to throw a tantrum during a lot of scenes. A few plot points are glossed over and could be seen as wasting time in an already 2 hour film. The creepy guys turning out to be aliens was predictable. There are certainly a lot of contrivances even if factoring for the notion that certain events were meant to occur due to the nature of the film. And I definitely have my own problems with the determinism proposed in the film since most time-related topics focus on the big picture instead of the mundane; the mundane aspects typically being how you could prove these theories wrong. What do I mean? We say, oh no, you can't change time, because somehow the unknown forces of the universe would still create the outcome since it's predestined. Okay, but this would mean the universe itself places value on events which either wreaks of human-centric logic or that there's an actual thinking force to the universe that is a retard. Think of it like this: if you knew tomorrow you'd eat cornflakes for breakfast, are you telling me that future couldn't be altered? Of course it could! You sleep in or eat Frankenberry or whatever. Knowing the future fundamentally means it can be altered as a default. Take the disasters in the film...it only works because the details are omitted and because it focuses on huge outcomes. But if you knew a true vision of the future, the devil is in the details leading up to that future. If you knew the events of a single day, at each step you could alter it and in the end alter the final outcome. To say only the final outcome matters also leads back to my point about placing value to specific events. Get what I'm saying? Time altering in films always breaks down to big things, because they're movies, but realistically nothing should be able to be altered if time were set in stone which includes every tiny facet of that moment. Either the events of the universe are predestined and there's no way to time travel or know the future--or--the universe is malleable and time travel and future knowledge is possible. I hope that made sense.

I realize this was a more long-winded review than I'd usually give, but I figured with all the waiting I did for this film I might as well give it a thorough breakdown and address as much material as possible. I really enjoy this movie despite my problems with it. There is a great mystery, even if it loses its way at one point, and the intrigue is impressive in how much you become immersed in the experience. You can't deny that there is a lot of creativity and imagination in the plot. The music is awesome and helps enhance the scenes and tone. There was a surprising amount of believable sentimentality in the performances and events of the film. And, of course, that ending leaves you both kind of happy yet caught off guard that John failed and the world was destroyed; I'd say that was pretty risky and certainly not your typical Hollywood conclusion. Overall, this is one of the better recent sci-fi films, and it has a lot more going on than I think people give it credit for. I love conversations on this shit so feel free to contact me, but try not to almost crash your car when discussing the topics like my friend almost did on opening night. Yes, the end of the world can happen and is inevitable even if it's a billion years from now! Silly boy.

Notable Moment: When John hits a baseball bat up against a tree and says, "You want some of this?" Oh Nicky...you just couldn't go an entire movie without at least one over the top outburst, could you?

Final Rating: 7.5/10