Not in the ‘Know,’ Film Falls Flat

originally written for The Emory Wheel: Entertainment (www.emorywheel.com)

20 March, 2009

“Knowing” is like a failed Evel Knievel stunt. The film builds the climax up, getting the crowd excited and hungry for more. As a stuntman revs his motorcycle, moving higher and higher up his jump ramp, “Knowing” artfully creates suspense and visual thrills.

But suddenly, the film, like Knievel, falls quickly and explosively into the Grand Canyon.

“Knowing” is the latest venture by director Alex Proyas (“I, Robot”). The movie offers an interesting mix of science fiction and action while exploring the age-old art of numerology.

The film begins in a classroom in 1959 as students prepare to bury a time capsule. Children are asked to draw what they think the future will look like and one disturbed little girl begins scribbling down numbers. Fifty years later, the time capsule is opened at the same elementary school and young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) receives the page of cryptic numbers.

His father John Koestler (Nicolas Cage), a professor of astrophysics at M.I.T., discovers a secret code within the numbers and realizes it predicts all of the major disasters that have occurred since 1959. He then turns his attention to the final three dates which have not yet taken place. With the reluctant help of Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne, “Damages”), the daughter of the original prophecy maker, Professor Koestler tries to stop the imminent disasters and figure out what will happen when the numbers stop.

During the film’s powerful first half, Proyas artfully unveils the mystery of the numbers with just enough suspense to keep it exciting. There is just the right mixture of fantasy and normality.

This balance allows the audience to believe that the numbers really do predict the future and keeps them rooting for Professor Koestler to solve the mystery. Even with a few cliché moments, including a particularly predictable scene with a creepy young oracle, the movie still manages to hold its own in the beginning.

However, after the secret behind the numbers is revealed, the movie takes a turn for the worse. The plot is quickly weighed down by unnecessarily lengthy action sequences that cut away from the main story line too often.

All sense of normality is lost and the film, which began with a relatively promising story, becomes too outlandish for even the experienced sci-fi viewer to tolerate. Those who were hoping for stellar special effects will be sadly disappointed; the CGI in “Knowing” doesn’t even come close to that of other films in its genre.

Cage, whose recent performances in “Ghost Rider” and “Next” have been heavily criticized, delivers a much better performance in this film. Despite the far-fetched script, he manages to create a believable character.

Unfortunately, his triumph is nullified by Byrne’s failure to perform. The actress attempts to portray a single mother concerned about her daughter but her overly shrieky emotional scenes make her performance completely unbearable.

Finally, Proyas reveals his “surprise twist.” But there is no surprise, as the ending is completely predictable and the only twist is how terribly it is portrayed by the filmmaker.

The climax of the movie is borderline ridiculous and is followed by at least three anti-climaxes that are wholly unnecessary. Each of these scenes would have made a perfectly suitable ending for the movie but Proyas instead chose to add all of them. These additions makes the already barely watchable “Knowing” last for an excruciating 15 extra minutes.

Although Proyas attempts to blend science fiction, action and religion in the film, “Knowing” ultimately falls short of the other side of the Grand Canyon, crashing and burning instead.