MOVIE REVIEW: "KNOWING"
KNOWING
By: Lee Rice
If Nicholas Cage could predict disasters in real life, one wonders how many bad films he could have avoided starring in. Fortunately, he’s picked right this time in choosing "Knowing," an interesting blend of supernatural suspense and disaster movie.
The basic premise is this: An astrophysics professor at MIT comes across a sequence of numbers buried in a time capsule that has been in the ground for 50 years. After a little study, he realizes that the sheet has predicted with pinpoint accuracy almost every disaster in the last 50 years, including three that have yet to occur.
It’s an interesting concept, but that hasn’t helped other films that provide good ideas but fail in their execution. Although it does have a lot of CGI disasters, the film never looses sight of its main idea, the question of whether events are really pre-determined, or if they are simply random acts of chance.
The best thing about "Knowing" is the director, Alex Proyas. Proyas, who also directed another great yet criminally underrated sci-fi film known as "Dark City," has managed to craft a story that draws people in with its excellent use of music, lighting, and an all-pervasive sense of dread that follows the characters around like a shroud.
The lighting and use of a muted palette of reds, oranges, and browns gives the film a distinct look that is heads and shoulders above other recent films that try to use darkness to achieve atmosphere, yet wind up producing a muddled and unwatchable mess. The only thing that I can think to compare the look to is that of a painting by Caravaggio, with soft edges and dim light used to pick out objects with just the right amount of detail.
Kudos also go to the special effects people, who have managed to craft at least four totally unforgettable disaster sequences in a single film. Each one stands head and shoulders above other disaster films for one reason and one reason alone, they manage to convey the horror and human tragedy of what is happening.
The music is occasionally overpowering, but I fault the mix rather than the score itself. Sometimes, particularly the final act of the film, it feels like we’re being bludgeoned with it, but I’m willing to overlook that.
The performances are reasonable, although occasionally overdone. Considering Nick Cage’s performance at some points of "Face/Off," I suppose that we can be supremely thankful for that.
In all, "Knowing" is an engrossing thriller that manages to be what Shyamalan’s "The Happening" wanted to be but wasn’t.
Final Verdict: A-
You can e-mail Lee at Leslierice60@webster.edu
