Knowing

Released: 2009

MPAA rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2:01

Considering some of Nicolas Cage's recent efforts, I went into "Knowing" with moderately low expectations. I would still say I am a fan of his, but not some of his movie choices. "Knowing" is the story of whether or not life is a series of random events or, instead, somewhat pre-determined. Cage plays John Koestler, a professor who strongly believes in the "S--t happens" philosophy (randomness) since the death of his wife. From a personal standpoint, I am right there with him. When a time capsule is opened at his son's school and his son receives a strange series of numbers from a student 50 years ago, Koestler begins to analyze the numbers and sees that this sheet accurately predicts just about every major tragedy of the last 50 years. Koestler, of course, is seen as reading too much into it and becomes obsessed with proving his case. The most concerning part is, like the Mayan calendar, this list of numbers has an end...and it is coming up very soon. Cage does a nice job playing a conflicted father who is trying to come to grips with what this all means for his son...and the rest of the world. The movie was interesting from the beginning and included some great effects sequences, especially a plane crash that was pretty amazing. However, this was not an overly effects-laden movie. The effects are there when they need to be there, but not at the expense of the story. As I watched the film, I did become concerned that the story only had one logical ending if you buy into the premise, but I was not sure Hollywood would go there. Well, they did allow the story to follow its logical conclusion, but managed to sneak in some surprises along the way. The ending itself is debatable as to whether it was silly (somewhat along similar lines as "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" silly), but I, personally, liked what they did with it. Overall, I found this to be a surprisingly good, riveting film.

Grade: B

Trailer: