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MOVIE
REVIEW: KNOWING

03/19/09

SYNOPSIS:
An action-thriller of global proportions, "Knowing" centers
on a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions of
imminent disaster and sets out to prevent them from coming
true. Meanwhile, his young son is shadowed by mysterious
strangers whose identities hold the key to the film’s
surprise ending.
REVIEW: “What do you believe?” Does everything happen
for a reason? Is there a purpose or is it completely
accidental or coincidental? MIT Professor John Koestler
(Nicolas Cage) seemed to believe that everything is just
coincidence and that there is no higher, driving purpose.
That is until he ran into a 50 year old sheet of paper
filled with numbers retrieved by his son Caleb (Chandler
Canterbury) from the opening of his school’s 1959 time
capsule. After finding the meaning of the code, his beliefs
along with his faithlessness began to shift. Whatever you
believe one thing is for sure, life is fragile and can end
at any given moment. That is a somber reality that this
movie strongly points out and it adds to the dreariness of
this film. This movie is eerie, mysterious, chilling,
penetrating, and depressing. There are religious undertones
hinted upon throughout which gave the movie a little more
edge. But this is not a movie for the weak-hearted. I’ve
been feeling kind of paranoid after watching it. If it was
able to do that to me, it’s got to be good.
The best aspects of this film are the special effects and
the cinematography in general. From the awesome satellite
type images towards the beginning of the movie of the U.S.
east coast which slowly zoomed in towards Boston, to the
jaw-dropping disaster scenes, the special effects work for
this movie is top notch. It made the movie that much more
realistic and thus that much gloomier. The visuals cut in
through your eyes and tore straight to your heart. The
cinematography also had the same effect. It really made this
movie more of a mystery thriller than a dramatic thriller.
There were some moments that I would even consider scary.
This is not just another typical Nike Cage action flick.
This is more along the lines of a Day After Tomorrow or even
more like a Day the Earth Stood Still. There is plenty of
hopelessness and inevitability which will keep you grounded.
So if this movie is so somber, why bother to see it? It is a
really good production with a very interesting storyline
that doesn’t exactly end in total catastrophe. There is a
light of hope in the midst of this darkness. Many of you
might be turned off by the way this movie is resolved, but I
didn’t mind it at all. One of the weaker aspects of this
film, however, is the script. It didn’t seem to keep up with
the intensity of the story. The acting on the other hand was
pretty good. Nick gave a standard performance, nothing
spectacular but good enough for the context. Chandler was
borderline freaky with his role which gave it more mystery.
His was arguably the best performance. Rose Byrne plays
Diana Wayland, the daughter of the author of the sheet of
numbers. Like Nick, there was nothing spectacular about her
performance but good enough for the context. One thing that
amazed me is the resemblance between her and Lara Robinson
who plays Diana’s mother Lucinda back in 1959. Lara was
sharp with her brief but effective role. She reminded me of
the girl from The Ring . . . freaky. Alex Proyas (The Crow,
Dark City, I, Robot) has done another mesmerizing piece of
work. He co-wrote, co-produced, and directed this film and
although it might not be better than some of his other
works, it is at least as good.
Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
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Director: Alex Proyas
Writer: Alex Proyas
Stuart Hazeldine
Ryne
Douglas Pearson
Genre: Action Thriller
Duration: 2hrs 2 mins
Staring: Nicolas Cage
Rose Byrne
Chandler Canterbury
Producer: 
Todd Black
Jason Blumenthal
Steve Tisch
Distributor: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT
Rating: PG-13 for disaster sequences,
disturbing images and brief strong
language.
Release Date: March 20, 2009
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