"Knowing" leaves viewers doing the opposite (* ½)

By: Ryan Anderson

Posted: 4/21/09

In 1959, a class at William Dawes Elementary was asked to draw pictures of their vision of the future for a time capsule to be dug up in 50 years. All the students draw a myriad of items; space ships, flying cars, and robots. Except for one particular student, who simply writes down a string of arbitrary numbers. Fifty years later, after the digging up of the time capsule, those numbers come into the possession of Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), son of John Koestler (Nicolas Cage). Koestler is raising Caleb by himself after his wife perished in a hotel fire a year prior. Now, after examining the numbers, he realizes that, despite being buried for 50 years, they have accurately predicted every single major disaster within that time period. There are 3 more left on the list, and it's up to him to stop them.
This is the setup of "Knowing", the newest big-budget thriller to hit theaters. It presents an interesting question: What would you do if you knew the exact date and time of the end of the world? What could you do? Evidently, the writers of this film aren't sure, as evidenced by the undeniable clunkiness of this screenplay, in which the characters rush from place to place spouting faulty logic to back the inane plot devices. Because along the way John and his son meet up with Dina Wayland (Rose Byrne) and her daughter Abby Wayland (Lara Robinson), who they believe hold the key to the girl who wrote the numbers.
Nicolas Cage gives a good performance here and he should, especially given that this is about his 4th film in a matter of years in which his character is forced to follow a series of clues or work off of a code. Likewise, Rose Byrne plays a convincing and in-depth female lead, only being outdone by Lara Robinson's terrific performance as her daughter. Eleven-year-old Chandler Canterbury, however is a different story. He glides through scenes in a wide-eyed daze; occasionally hitting on a tone of sincerity. And not to sound vitriolic towards someone who's had so little time to perfect their craft, but he fails to achieve the "creepy little boy" angle that worked so well in "The Ring" (2002).
The film is directed by Alex Proyas, known mostly for the Will Smith actioner "I, Robot" (2004). Here we get a taste of what Proyas is good for, quick paces and explosions, as well as what he isn't , scaring audiences. Several scenes throughout the film depict little Caleb being stalked by a mysterious group of "whisper people"; all who look strangely similar to Billy Idol. None of these scenes had the desired effect of heightened tension. Some actually made the audience laugh. Not as much, however, as the final fifteen minutes.
Throughout the picture the writers seem to be building towards the obvious; setting the viewer up with questions of the metaphysical. Is there a heaven? Is there a hell? Are events here on earth intertwined? Do they have a purpose? Or are we all just here because of a chain of random accidents? These are major questions. They deserve major answers. I can only assume the writers realized this halfway through, panicked, and just threw their hands up. Because that is ultimately what the conclusion of this movie feels like: abandonment of everything promised by the first act. Other than some top-notch special effects, one has to wonder what the goal of the people behind this movie was. Were they aiming to make a movie labeled the disingenuous cousin of "Signs"? If so, well done, gentlemen.