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Movies / Upcoming / Knowing
Knowing

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Knowing (2009)

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Reviews Counted:24

Fresh:3

Rotten:21

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: Knowing has some interesting ideas and a couple good scenes, but it's weighted down by its absurd plot and over-seriousness.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Theatrical Release:Mar 20, 2009 Wide

Box Office: $79,948,113

Synopsis: Nicolas Cage stars in Knowing, a gripping action-thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future—and sets out to prevent them from coming... Nicolas Cage stars in Knowing, a gripping action-thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future—and sets out to prevent them from coming true.

In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one mysterious girl fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead.

Fifty years later, a new generation of students examines the capsule’s contents and the girl’s cryptic message ends up in the hands of young CALEB KOESTLER. But it is Caleb’s father, professor JOHN KOESTLER (Nicolas Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As John further unravels the document’s chilling secrets, he realizes the document foretells three additional events—the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve John and his son. When John’s attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.

With the reluctant help of DIANA WAYLAND (Rose Byrne) and ABBY WAYLAND, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the prophecies, John’s increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster—and the ultimate sacrifice. --© Summit Entertainment [More]

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn, Terry Camilleri

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn, Terry Camilleri

Director: Alex Proyas

Director: Alex Proyas
Studio: Summit Entertainment

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Reviews for Knowing

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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There's nothing really special about this film, other than an interesting premise.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/23/09
Ben Lyons
Ben Lyons
At the Movies
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Things started to fall off of the deep end very quickly.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
03/23/09
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies
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If Alex Proyas' Knowing were reasonably entertaining -- instead of just dour, pointless and tedious -- it would be a camp classic.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment 3 Comments
03/23/09
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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If you want to know how inept the movie is...well, it's so inept that you may wish you were watching an M. Night Shyamalan version of the very same premise.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment 8 Comments
03/23/09
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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The movie begins shameless, grows stupid and winds up silly. If the ending had less of the air of a crackpot religion and more pretentiousness, you could almost call it Shyamalanish.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment 5 Comments
03/20/09
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
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An uneasy blending of sci-fi and religion, fate and faith -- the same mish-mash that has bedeviled most of M. Night Shyamalan's recent movies, and leaves this film leaden with self-importance.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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It's pretty much impossible to take the rest of a film seriously once you've seen a flaming moose running toward the camera in slow motion.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment 3 Comments
03/20/09
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle
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The frustrating thing about Knowing is the story is worthy. But director Proyas tries to cram too much in, as if the tricks and effects wizardry are all that really counts. They aren't.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
Linda Barnard
Linda Barnard
Toronto Star
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The narrative corner into which this movie, directed by Alex Proyas, paints itself is a simultaneously silly and morbidly depressing one.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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For me, it doesn't quite work; still I'm glad he took the risk.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
Betsy Sharkey
Betsy Sharkey
Los Angeles Times
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Its breathlessness and permanent state of confusion make you long for the assured touch of M. Night Shyamalan.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
Kamal Al-Solaylee
Kamal Al-Solaylee
Globe and Mail
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The draggy, lurching two hours of Knowing will make you long for the end of the world, even as you worry that there will not be time for all your questions to be answered.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
03/20/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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If you're of a mind to believe a dreary and far-fetched thriller about numerology-crazed alien life forms, then you may find the movie mildly diverting.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
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Was there a prediction of this laughably bad movie in The Mothman Prophecies?

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News
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The resolution of the mysterious visitors' mission and John's crisis of faith feels more like an excuse to stage some hellacious cataclysms than the product of a genuine belief in anything at all.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Hokum is best served straight, not as a New Age cocktail with too many ingredients.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
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A not-bad supernatural-tinged sci-fier that has more on its mind than the run-of-the-mill effects-driven extravaganza.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
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The dialogue is sci-fi standard-issue, composer Marco Beltrami shamelessly cribs from Bernard Herrmann, and wispy Rose Byrne barely registers as Cage's ally.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Andrea Gronvall
Andrea Gronvall
Chicago Reader
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Knowing has the evangelical fervor of a movie that feels as if it were made during W's first term. Which is to say, Knowing is as potent a slice of disaster porn as Left Behind. It dabbles in faith and doubt and has no patience for f

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
03/19/09
Christopher Borrelli
Christopher Borrelli
Chicago Tribune
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A weird and gloomy existential thriller.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment 2 Comments
03/19/09
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Latest News for Knowing

July 06, 2009: RT on DVD: Knowing, Push, The Unborn Unleashed
It's a genre lover's feast this week on DVD, but don't say we didn't warn you about those pesky rotten Tomatometers. First up? Alex Proyas's latest science fiction thriller,... More...

March 22, 2009: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Power Knowing To # 1
This weekend Moviegoers still love Nicolas Cage action flicks as the actor's latest film, the doomsday thriller Knowing, easily beat out two other new releases to capture the... More...

March 19, 2009: Critics Consensus: I Love You, Man Is A Fine Bromance
This week at the movies, we've got a bromantic comedy (I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel), ominous numerology (Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne),... More...

March 19, 2009: Box Office Guru Preview: Cage, Roberts, and Rudd Battle For #1 Spot
Three new films roll into North American multiplexes and for the first time in ages, all three have a realistic chance of claiming the number one spot. Comedies have been... More...

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