Movie Review: “Knowing”
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 9:58PM | By Franck Tabouring 
Seen on: March 22, 2009
The players: Director: Alex Proyas, Writers: Ryne Douglas Pearson, Stiles White, Juliet Snowden, Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelsohn
Facts of interest: Proyas also helmed "I, Robot" and "Dark City."
The plot: Cage stars as a professor who thinks he's connected to a series of events leading to a global disaster that could be detrimental to the world.
Our thoughts: Science and religion collide again on the big screen in Alex Proyas’ latest sci-fi thriller “Knowing,” in which Nicholas Cage makes a shocking discovery and tries everything in his power to prevent the end of humanity. It’s definitely not a terrible flick, but I did come across several aspects I simply couldn’t appreciate.
First and foremost, I enjoyed the movie’s fast-paced plot. “Knowing” is not exactly what I would call a highly suspenseful thriller, but the film’s dark atmosphere and the entertaining development of the central mystery definitely kept me intrigued throughout.
What you should also know about “Knowing” is that it’s a pure science-fiction adventure, which means you’ll get to experience a highly far-fetched story filled with twists that are anything but down-to-earth. I’m obviously not going to spoil the ending here, but be prepared for anything.
As far as the main story line is concerned, Cage plays John Koestler, a professor of astrophysics who’s been having a hard time being a single father and coping with his wife’s recent death. But when his son brings home a mysterious piece of paper filled with numbers, everything in John’s chaotic life is about to change.
It’s not until he takes a closer look at the sheet that John makes a horrible discovery: all these numbers point to the exact dates of every major global disaster of the past five decades, and the remaining sets of numbers foretell three additional events, including one that could be detrimental to the entire world.
The central theme of “Knowing” is introduced early on, and this time, it mainly revolves around whether all things in the universe are deterministic or random. It’s a debate that has been around for a long time, and Proyas’ film takes a clear side. What you make of it is up to you to decide.
While some of what’s going on in this thriller is a little too predictable for my taste, other parts actually ended up surprising me, which is definitely a good thing. The script is certainly far from perfect, but I admire the way Proyas and his technical staff have put together an overall entertaining sci-fi flick.
“Knowing” boasts a couple of satisfying action sequences, and while some of them certainly look impressive, others fall victim to weak special effects. The other major problem I have with this film is Nicholas Cage. Okay, his hair looks better than in most of his projects, but his rather thin performance didn’t have a strong impact on me at all.
Freaky quote: “Stay with me. I know how this sounds, but I've mapped these numbers to the dates of every major global disaster from the last 50 years in perfect sequence." – Nicholas Cage
The final word: Fans of Proyas’ work (his credits include “I, Robot” and “Dark City”) may really enjoy “Knowing,” a decent film with a bunch of intense scenes and a clear message. I personally don’t exactly share the same opinion, but I still found it rather easy to enjoy “Knowing” without complaining all too much.
Article by Franck Tabouring
Share Article | 12 Comments | Email Article | Print Article tagged Alex Proyas, Knowing, Nicholas Cage, Sci-Fi in Theatrical 
Reader Comments (12)
Great...
I just returned from seeing the movie KNOWING. PRETTY MUCH LIKED THE MOVIE, UNTIL THE WHOLE ' I WANT TO CONVERT YOU ALL TO MY STUPID SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION. TOO BAD, it had some great potiential. NOT RECOMMENDING THE FILM.
WAY to many genres! I was pretty good until the aliens came into it! After that it was all a bit silly!
Just came from watching the movie.
And actually... the movie isn't trying to "CONVERT YOU ALL TO MY STUPID SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION."
<<SPOILER>>
It's based on Christianity and the Bible, the Judgement Day to be more exact.
It says that all the living creatures will be destroyed with fire [sun].
Note also that those aliens (when you looked closely during the movie) they had wings, and looked much like angels. Also, at the end the two children are like Adam and Eve with that great tree representing the Garden of Eden. [And these "children" were picked probably since God says only people with the mind/heart of a child can enter heaven/restart.
Well... at least that's what I thought of it.
i thought the same thing.. with the Christian thing!! ,..... but then when i see these martians representing angels i came to the conclusion that this is a scientology movie...!!! the bibles states, that martians are fallen angels.. and we wont be destroyed by fire unless your going to hell on judgment day... so Im going with ......well not going but more agreeing that this movie is a scientology thing..making us to believe that it has Christian connotations in it.. the bible state's also that Jesus will descend from the heavens not martians....
good movie through, especially the effects but no... this is fiction at its finest.
That movie was only 'christian' to the christians who watched it. It was based on scientology in every way. I liked the film anyway, despite being a 'devout' atheist. At some point I just got used to overwhelming religious messages in films. It is an inherent weakness in almost all films. They become some sort of sugar-coated ethical propaganda machine, telling everyone that humans aren't capable of a non pre-texted sense of universal rightness. It is no worse that this film was based on scientology than it would have been had it been based on any other organized code of beliefs. To get hyped up that the scientoligists are pumping us full of scientology propaganda is silly. Most films that contain any sort of 'rebirth of faith' or 'redemption' message (and most do) are christian based, so why not let the scientologists have a go at it? It's just more of the same in the end anyway.
Great movie until the last bit with aliens, it just got stupid after that. they almost made a great movie before they decided to throw in a few space ships etc.
I agree with Colby.
A person who knows the Word, knows that is not a Christian based movie. Remember, "Scio" means in latin "Knowing" and that's the name of the movie. Those aliens represent the Thetans they believe to live in all of us. We just have to let them discover themselves. Because Scientology was created by a fictional writer, you'd think he could come up with his own material instead of copying the Bible. Jesus Rocks!!
Geneva, very well put. This movie in no way followed Christian scriptures. I believe that to defend my faith, one must be familiar with other religions and their beliefs. Colby, this movie was NOT "only 'christian' to the christians who watched it". The basic belief in Christianity is that Christ rose from the dead in 3 days and will one day, return to deliver those who know Him. Not aliens and not only a few children. Scripture also states that no one will know the day of his return. Not at all similar to this movie. And these are just the basics of the faith.
I like the movies at the beginning until the aliens showed up. It felt too scientology to me.
I enjoyed the movie until I saw the f****** ending.. F*** why do disaster movies always end to a f****** useless religious ending!! We don't f****** care about religion.. People are making money out of it.. Im getting tired of being attacked by religious messages in movies