Knowing

Let me start by saying I was shocked to see this was #1 at the box office this past weekend. Opening up against I LOVE YOU MAN and DUPLICITY this is no small accomplishment nor is this Alex Proyas feature a small film. Hell, it's about the end of the world dammit! It also happens to be about some MIT prof with a broken life and a serious drinking problem who has lost his faith and believe the universe is a cold and uncaring joint. Sound familiar? It should (and no...I am NOT talking about myself) because we've seen this all before and this is one of the big problems with KNOWING.....we kind of...uh...know we've seen this all before from THE SEVENTH SIGN, to SIGNS, to ARMAGEDDON to hell....even Bugs Bunny cartoons....we've seen it all. ......well....kind of. KNOWING at least has a nice little metapsyichal spin on things and I'm rather surprised there haven't been fundamental Christian groups protesting it somewhere. Am I giving something away? Who care.....trust me....you pretty much seen it before.
The other problem with KNOWING is Nicolas Cage who is quickly joining Leelee Sobieski here for blurbs about films that suck. Cage's performance here makes Keanu Reeves look like a Shakespearian thespian which is not intended as an insult to either but fawk me...Cage is like a cardboard cut out in this one and I have no idea why. Here is yet another problem....the damn film WOULD NOT WORK without Cage! I'm well aware I've just contradicted myself but I found myself trying to think of another male lead for this picture and ended up with the conclusion Cage was the natural choice. This could explain why it beat all of the other films with it's draw this weekend past, people love Nicolas Cage EVEN when he's not at his best.
From all I have written you might be of the mind KNOWING is a bad film which isnt the case. It manages to provide a nice little creepy atmosphere, much like Proyas did in DARK CITY and THE CROW not to mention I, ROBOT, and entertain you to boot.
There are a couple of mind bender action scenes, sadly CGI and with that damn shaky camera work I'm always complaining about but they are intense enough to make the twelve bucks and a trip to the movie house worth every penny. Anybody who went to Sunday school will enjoy the "clues" as they unfold and yes those "black rocks" have a signifigant meaning. One last thing I feel needs to be pointed out is DON'T get up and leave when it looks like the film has ended. I'm not sure if it was editing or what but half of the audience left before the true climax of the film happened, and I can fully understand how the mistake was made because I almost did it myself, and to miss it would be to not get your money's worth!