A not-bad supernatural-tinged sci-fier that has more on its mind than the run-of-the-mill effects-driven extravaganza.

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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
Too bad that the gifted Proyas (Crow, Dark City) doesn't work more often, and when he does, he contributes to a hodgepodge narrative, which tries to satisfy fans of every genre: actioners, thrillers, apocalyptic sci-fi, disaster flicks, and so on.
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.
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
It's meant to be creepy, but the movie's gloomy atmospherics are consistently undone by Cage's strange, disinterested (and possibly Botoxed) performance.
Alternately ludicrous, eerily plausible and just a tad overreaching, the film shares its finer points with shortcomings and comes up with an overall cinematic experience more ambitious than most big-budget special effects extravaganzas.
It's a Nicolas Cage movie, so, admit it, you're expecting crazy. You have no idea.
Proyas remains a skilled director of mood and spectacle, but a striking look and a handful of remarkable setpieces -- look out for that plane -- can’t elevate what’s ultimately a silly movie with a queasy subtext.
The promise that Alex Proyas showed with 1998's Dark City is only very sporadically evident in Knowing, the director's second sci-fi saga.
A broad, leisurely jumble of Alfred Hitchcock-style suspense architecture and a dreary, paint-by-numbers Sci-Fi Channel Original, Knowing only seems to extract two reactions: nail-biting and eye-rolling.
Knowing is among the best science-fiction films I've seen -- frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome.
Too ridiculous to be taken seriously and too serious to be dismissed as mindless trash.
Knowing is a classic case of a movie that is crammed with interesting ideas but is unable to conceptualize them in a compelling fashion.
Ultimately the one who gets burned is Cage, a 1996 Oscar winner whose once-promising career is boarding the mother ship for oblivion.
A strange blend of apocalypse fantasy and Christian uplift, Alex Proyas’ follow up to I, Robot is every bit as beautiful as we’d expect, though not quite as tasteful.
Knowing tosses around paranormal-thriller clichés with gleeful abandon.
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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