Day 81: Knowing (2009)

August 26, 2012

Today’s movie has a similar theme to yesterday’s Super 8, but with a much different outcome. It makes me wonder what Steven Spielberg might have done differently with Knowing. Watch both movies and tell me which one you liked better!

In 1959 a class of elementary students fills a time capsule to commemorate the official opening of their school. Most of the children draw pictures of what they dream the world will look like in 50 years; young Lucina frantically scribbles a page of numbers as she hears strange voices in her head. In 2009, the time capsule is opened and student Caleb Koestler gets Lucinda’s “drawing” and his father John (Nicolas Cage), an astrophysicist and grieving widower, takes a look. He discovers the numbers correspond with dates of disasters – natural or otherwise – over the past 50 years along with the number who died. The more he investigates, the more confused he becomes. Is there no such thing as ‘chance’ or a change in destiny? Could a little girl have predicted the future with precise accuracy 50 years before?

I liked the premise of this movie a lot. The idea that everything in life has been predetermined is a fascinating concept to me, albeit downright scary.

Nicolas Cage is a superb actor whose roles span numerous genres. He can be a mean sonofabitch like he was in Face-Off, or he can be a kind soul as he was in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Personally, my favourite Nicolas Cage role is as Ben Gates in the National Treasure films. Sidebar: National Treasure 3 has been announced but no release date set yet. Rose Byrne plays Diana, Lucinda’s daughter, who helps unravel the mystery of the numbers that drove her mother insane. Byrne can also be seen right now as the star of Damages Season 5 (one of my personal favourite Netflix TV series). And since you’re in Canada, you should know this: Damages Season 5 is being made available with a new episode up on Netflix right after it airs in the U.S. Right now we’re at episode 8. Even the folks who have Netflix in the United States aren’t getting THAT on their Netflix. 🙂

At the box office, Knowing grossed about $80-million, but the critics weren’t overly impressed by it. Are they EVER happy with anything???

Watch Knowing – it’s a movie that has taken a genre and looked at it in a different way.

– Blair