Knowing
Starring-Nicholas Cage
Director-Alex Proyas
It’s spring time, supposedly. And that can only mean that it’s time for Hollywood to start putting out disaster movies. If you wanted, you could divide the entire year by the movies in current release. January-March…bad movies that didn’t have a proper release the previous year(because they are really bad), April-May…disaster movies and fairly bad romantic comedies, June –August…big popcorn/tent-pole movies, September-October…mediocre movies that couldn’t be crammed into the summer schedule/smarter movies that are lead-ins to the prestige pictures, November-December…bad holiday movies(do they make good ones any more?) prestige films looking for Oscar glory. One year in the movies right there.
The Nic Cage starring Knowing is the first big disaster movie of the year, and I have to admit, it’s not really that bad. In fact, there is much of it that is quite good. Mainly because of the mind of Alex Proyas, the visionary director behind The Crow and Dark City (maybe the best sci-fi film I have ever seen). He’s also responsible for the abomination that was I, Robot…but, as I understand it, FOX Studios were horribly meddlesome on that project and all but took control of that film…leaving him contractually obligated to leave his name on it. So, clean slate as far as I am concerned. Besides, Proyas is back in top form for this project, and has crafted another wonderful piece of science fiction.
Nic Cage stars as John Koestler, a professor of astro-physics at MIT. He is a widower whose wife died tragically and suddenly, leaving him to raise his 10 year old son on his own. He’s not exactly father of the year, but he loves the boy, who is hearing impaired…though that never seems to impact the story what-so-ever, begging the question why such a detail is necessary. In any case, a 50 year old time capsule containing letters written by former students is opened at the son’s school, and letters are delivered to current students. Naturally, Cage’s son receives a letter written by a disturbed little girl containing nothing but a series of numbers, and takes it home. Cage finds it, and, being a scientific genius (sorry, I’m just not buying Cage as an astro-physicist professor at MIT) he almost immediately finds patterns in the numbers. What’s it all mean? He believes the numbers are specific dates of every disaster in the world for the last 50 years…and also one other interesting detail that I won’t spoil here. This leads Cage on a journey to find out what it all means and what, if anything, can be done about it.
It’s a pretty interesting set up, and some of the action scenes that come as a result are truly inspired. Particularly a plane crash the likes of which you have never seen, and an aftermath that rivals even the best action films for intensity…and there is next to no dialogue. It’s nice to see Proyas get a chance to shine here. I truly believe he is a visionary type guy, and while we only get a handful of glances at that in this film (hell yes put the camera inside the train car), you can tell that his is a film maker worth following anywhere. This isn’t really the big sci-fi, actioner that it is being sold as. It’s more of a mood piece. The atmosphere is so thick sometimes you can cut it with a chainsaw…and when Cage isn’t Cageing things up, it’s really effective. I don’t think there is a more frustrating, uneven actor on the planet right now. Sometimes brilliant and engaging, sometimes embarrassingly hammy, you never can tell which Cage is going to show up. He’s fairly even here, skimming the line between control and chaos in his performance, and it’s a very passable performance to boot. I couldn’t help but think, however, how much more effective someone like Paul Giamatti would have in the role.
If I had to pick one major problem with this film it might be the title. So much happens in this film, but there are virtually no answers given anywhere. Usually, I’m a big fan of ambiguity in films, but if you are going to call a movie Knowing, somebody somewhere should know something…about anything. There is also the matter of the never-dying car batteries throughout the film…but I’ll chalk that up to the willful suspension of disbelief category.
Knowing is no science-fiction masterpiece, but it is a welcome addition to a genre that has been pretty disappointing the last few years. It’s got a brain, and some very interesting ideas, and is absolutely a joy to look at (extraordinary work by DP Simon Duggan). Personally, I would rather sit through Dark City for a ninth or tenth time, but if you are on the look out for a smart, highly entertaining film, check out Knowing. Just don’t expect to know anymore about anything upon leaving the theater than you knew going in. Enjoy the ride.
