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Review - Knowing

June 23rd 2009 15:00
Living in a foreign country abroad, we miss the trailers for all up and coming flicks. So it was with hesitation when I decided to sit down and watch Nicolas Cage's latest release - Knowing - as I had no idea what it was about. Very ironic but true!

Nicolas Cage is John Koestler, a widower, an astrophysicist and MIT professor whose son, Caleb (Chandler Canterbury), attends the local elementary school. John is not a believer in god or any form of christianity despite the fact that his estranged father is a pastor and that his son has a name overflowing with Christian undertones. (Caleb, biblically speaking, was an important figure in the Hebrew Bible, noted for his faith in God and was only one of two adult Israelites allowed to enter Canaan as a reward for their faith.) Early on in the piece we learn that the only philosophy he comes to rely on is the fact that "s**t happens".


Caleb's school is celebrating their 50 year anniversary and at the ceremony they open a time capsule which was buried 50 years prior by the students attending the school. The capsule itself contains drawings of students predicting the future, although Caleb's drawing is a bunch of numbers which he feels might be more significant than they originally appear. Unbeknown to the school, he takes home his own piece of history at which point John discovers it, scolds Caleb and tells him to return it to the school the next day. However, the paper gets the better of him and as he examines it further he notes a date - September 11, 2001. Upon closer inspection he soon comes to realise that the numbers are in themselves predictions of future tragedies. These are prophecies penned by a young girl Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) 50 years prior notifying dates of death and destruction - many of which have already occurred except for three dates which are soon to pass.


Unable to gain help or acknowledgement from his MIT colleague Phil Beckman (Ben Mendelsohn), he attempts to track down Lucinda - only to find that she passed away many years ago. Her surviving daughter Diane (Rose Byrne) he decides may be the key so he schemes to meet up with her to find out more about the mysterious Lucinda and her predictions. Both Mendelsohn's and Byrne's characters appear only briefly and neither are given any great dialogue or scenes that would add much significance to the movie.

I found the child actors to be refreshing and both Chandler Canterbury (Powder Blue, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) and Lara Robinson - who also played the dual role as Lucinda's granddaughter - are ones to take note of in the future.

Directed by Alex Proyas (I, Robot and The Crow), this sci-fi movie had all the right elements although the ending fell a little flat for my liking. Like Powder Blue in which a version of heaven was depicted and all appeared wearing white, this one showed a similar scene which seemed to shout - we have run out of interesting ideas!

Cage's inner dialogue that runs alongside his acting is always a little too intense and over the top for my taste and yes in this movie, it does rear it's ugly head. But for most part, he manages to contain himself quite well and I found myself enjoying this movie - which is more than I can say for many of the other so called blockbusters he seems to churn out year after year.

Voyage Review: 3/5

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