Review of Knowing (2009) by Arun J — 19 May 2012

An interesting premise is one thing, but executing it is a different story in the process of making a movie. I wish the writer for Knowing could've listened to that saying before he made this movie. I was intrigued by the plot, but then anything that got my attention was forgotten about. The gist of the movie is a professor finding a paper written 50 years ago and it has a bunch of numbers on it relating to disasters in the past and future. Along the way, his kid is visited by weird stalker men who give him a rock and whisper stuff to him. It's all just a recipe for a shit movie. The professor is played by Nicholas Cage so right away you know the acting is going to be downright goofy. That's exactly what it was, not just by Cage, but the kid actors and other adult actors. His son does nothing but whine all the time and the other characters you just don't care for. The disasters in the movie everybody seemed to be praising were a plane and train crash. They weren't anything special, but they were alright. The thing with the special effects in Knowing I have a problem with is how they deviate. During the disasters, the CGI looks good, but in one scene where the forest is on fire and a bunch of animals are burning up it just looks incredibly bad. The film is also riddled with plot holes. One, what's the point of showing this random guy dates for certain disasters when they clearly can't be prevented? Two, why didn't he think the paper was just a hoax? He stated early in the movie that he believes "shit happens" and he always looks to a rational solution to everything, but one look at a piece of paper with numbers on it and suddenly he takes everything so seriously? I really wonder what goes on in Cage's head when he accepts roles like this. But hey, as long as he gets to be in a scene that will eventually go viral on YouTube or become a meme, he's fine with his role. The thing that really pissed me of about the movie though, was the ending. I won't give it away, but here's a small glimpse at it:

"The lives of two bunny rabbits are worth more that the lives of humans.".

Confused? So was I. I can honestly say though, the disjointed dialogue and convoluted plot devices are actually funny. Not intentionally though, but to me, I find the idiocy of the movie laughable. Just the sight of Nicholas Cage beating a tree with a baseball bat gets me to laugh every time. It definitely is an unintentional comedy, and for that, I salute the movie.