Drive-By Movie Review: Knowing

This is a review of the 2009 movie Knowing, starring Nicholas Cage.

Plot Synopsis: Astrophysicist and grieving widower, Professor John Koestler, studies a sheet of paper from a time capsule that has been dug up at his son’s elementary school; on it are dozens of chilling predictions — most that have already occurred, along with three others that are about to — that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

Me: Welcome to another addition of the wildly popular feature, Drive-by Movie Review! 🙂

The Honeybee: Oh brother.

Me: What? This feature is wildly popular.

The Honeybee: I bet the guy from Opportunity Knocks who you said is blogging over at Get Rich Slowly wouldn’t consider this feature to be “wildly popular.”

Me: Oh yeah?

The Honeybee: Yeah!

Me: Looks like we’re at an impasse so let’s just agree to disagree for now because, Honeybee, we really have to move on. Tell me, what did you think about Knowing?

The Honeybee: You know, I am not a big Nicholas Cage fan, but I really liked him in National Treasure and the sequel, Book of Secrets. I rented this movie for us because I thought it would follow in the same vein – you know, there’s some sort of treasure hunt where a bunch of mysterious clues need to be deciphered.

Me: And it was very much like that for the first half of the movie.

The Honeybee: You know it. I really liked the early part of the movie when it was detailing the origins of the time capsule. I also enjoyed the part where Cage’s astrophysicist character, John, was working to unravel the mystery behind all of those random numbers on the sheet of paper from the time capsule his son brought home. But then it kind went downhill after that.

Me: Well, this movie lamely tried to tackle the philosophical question of whether our mere presence and everything else in the universe is a result of a master plan or simply a random quirk. As the movie progresses, John has to consider questions about fate, his faith, and obligations to his family. Unfortunately for us, the longer this movie ran, the preachier it got.

The Honeybee: If you say so. Personally, I lost interest in this movie when it crossed into the realm of aliens. And who decided to give them clothes?

Me: I know. I know. They wore clothes that made them look like mod IRS agents. But in my opinion, that dubious fact wasn’t the movie’s biggest stretch. That honor belongs to the scene where Cage is able to effortlessly find a parking space during rush hour on one of Manhattan’s busiest thoroughfares. You could make a case for the alien trench coats and sunglasses, but finding a parking space in NYC during rush hour – never gonna happen.

The Honeybee: You have to admit, the special effects were impressive though, weren’t they? In fact, all three of the depicted disaster scenes were visual treats; the first one, which I won’t spoil, was downright scary to watch.

Me: I agree with you, Honeybee. But unfortunately, the story just wasn’t good enough in my opinion to make this worth watching, excellent special effects or no. What’s your recommendation on this movie?

The Honeybee: “Sell.”

Me: Well, we may not agree on the definition of “wildly popular,” but we do have consensus on the movie! Knowing is a definite “Sell.”

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