Knowing - does it help any?

Introduction

 
Nichols Cage is one of those actors who seems to divide film fans, a bit like Keanu Reeves but less blank looking.  The nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, Cage's filmography and critical acclaim thereof has been very mixed, particularly of his more mainstream films and his collaborations with blockbuster-meister Jerry Bruckheimer.  Still, Nicholas Cage is a bonefide Oscar winner so he must be doing something right…
 
In 1958, a class of young students are asked to draw pictures of the future that will form the contents of a time capsule, to be buried for 50 years as part of the school's official opening day ceremony.  Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) is a lone and troubled young girl who fills her page with a series of seemingly random numbers instead of a piece of art.
 


Fast forward to 2008 and the time capsule is recovered from its temporary resting place and the sealed envelopes passed out to modern young students to see how accurate the drawings were.  Lucinda Embry's contribution is passed to Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), the intelligent but slightly deaf son of MIT professor John Koestler (Nicholas Cage).  Everyone dismisses Lucinda's list of numbers until Koestler Snr examines the paper whilst drinking, which is always the way to find sudden insight…
 
John finds that the seemingly random sets of numbers are not so random, but are in fact a list of consecutive dates and casualty numbers of disasters that have occurred over the last fifty years, bar three which are due within the next few days.  Finding that his attempts to alert the authorities are falling on deaf ears, Koestler decides that he must try and prevent the upcoming disasters himself.
 


Part of his search for the meaning behind the numbers and Lucinda's state of mind lead John Koestler to Embry's daughter Diana Weyland (Rose Byrne) and granddaughter Abby (Lara Robinson in a dual role).  Diana is very sceptical but John is convinced that he needs both of their help in order to solve the mystery facing him and the strange man (DG Maloney) who appears to be watching them, but time is running out fast…
 

Extras

 
Director's commentary
 
Knowing All: The Making Of a Futuristic Thriller - not a bad making of featurette, not great either, but hey…
 
Visions of the Apocalypse - featurette that examines the apocalypse from the viewpoint of different cultures and religions, quite interesting really if very brief.
 
Theatrical Trailer and TV Spots - here more for completion than anything else, I'd say.  The TV spots themselves seem endless and too similar to be of much interest…
 

Overall

 
Not long after the rather annoying and boring Keanu Reeves re-imagining of The Day The Earth Stood Still, we have another apocalyptic film in the form of Knowing.  Thankfully, Knowing is far better than that film and takes a different tack as well.  The key here is that Koestler knows where and when the last few disasters on his list are going to happen but has no idea what form they will take.  This role also suits Cage down to the ground as he has perfected the quizzical bemused look in the same way that Reeves has perfected the completely blank wooden look.
 
This is not to diss Cage, as actually I quite like him in this film and I was able to envisage him as a professor, which to be honest is something I'd really struggle with Reeves.  I also liked all the performances, especially the two younger actors and Lara Robinson in particular who pulled off two very different roles quite capably.


 
As a thriller, this works really well until the twist for the final disaster on the list and then it goes slightly askew.  Not for the disaster itself, which is handled well and with some rather spectacular special effects and a suitable sense of helplessness from Cage.  It's the explanation of the role of the Stranger and how both the youngsters fit into the story.  It's carried off with some fine special effects, again, but it too simplistic and hopeful, not really fitting with the story overall.  I would have preferred the film to have ended five minutes earlier but I guess that this would have been too bleak for cinema audiences.  As it is, I just feel that the ending was a blatant nod to the book of Genesis and rather weak.
 
Very good up until that point though…