If... you want your 'sense of wonder' piqued, and are willing to contemplate some big and possibly alien concepts, this takes you to some unexpected places.

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Knowing (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:160
Fresh:52
Rotten:108
Average Rating:4.7/10
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
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
Rather like watching an intricately arranged set of dominos starting to topple. That's neat. I didn't see that one coming, you think, as yet another train carriage joins the pile-up.
The final message may be trite, even saccharine, but Knowing would be pretty well unbearable without it. Proyas has made a truly haunting and terrifying film.
I'm a bit on the fence with Knowing. It is well made, and bleak as hell, but just has a little too much going on for me to recommend it.
A mind-blowing blend of apocalyptic imagery and metaphysical discussion that is easily the best film of its type since "Southland Tales" (and I should stress that I mean that as a compliment).
As well as being perversely pessimistic for a blockbuster, it’s rendered tedious by a dense plot and lifeless characters. Even M Night Shyamalan would have done a better job. How dare such an empty film ask us to endure many realistic scenes of carnage?
It's intriguing B-feature apocalypse, determinism versus free-will stuff.
It has a wicked premise and many fascinating themes but, overall, it becomes a little bit silly towards the end.
I like the sheer quantity of ideas in this film, but I am not sure that they all fit so nicely together. I expect with some thought the flaws will seem less important and the audacity of the plot will win out.
It predicts a future when people act courageously and selflessly to preserve their families and the future of mankind. I can get behind that.
It probably helps that the trailer flatlined our expectations, but the engaging, unconventional Knowing certainly qualifies as a pleasant surprise.
Somewhere in amongst the mystery/thriller/horror/sci-fi/drama genre-bending shenanigans something gets seriously lost.
An earnest Cage lends some gravitas to a film of amazing coincidences and less than amazing special effects that sci-fi fans will embrace until something better comes along.
A ticking-clock thriller turned full-blown horror, Alex Proyas’s film isn’t the first to feature Cage wandering about bewilderedly. At least I Am Legend had a dog.
Less mysticism or numerology, than really frightening spookonometry, and craftsmanship teeming with nightmarish imagery that takes your breath away, even with all sorts of outlandish premises afoot. ET, or rather EE with rabbits and a hearing aid.
As threats of annihilation go, the imperfect but effective Knowing presents its big picture with thoughtfulness and style.
Knowing has a far more insidious agenda: to convince non-believers like Cage, an embittered, alcoholic atheist since his wife’s death, there is intelligent design in the universe.
Mixing Spielbergian child-like wonder, disaster movie spectacle and the cod-religious silliness of M Night Shyamalan’s ‘Signs’. The premise is compelling, but the execution is over-cooked.
A clunky screenplay doesn’t help matters, but the spectacularly shoddy special effects are the nail in the coffin for this doomsday scenario.
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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