Knowing - B

In Theaters, PG-13, 121 minutes

An MIT Physics Professor (Nicolas Cage) has his belief system upended when he discovers that a sheet of paper buried in a time capsule at his son’s school since 1959 has correctly predicted the death toll of each major catastrophe around the world for the past 50 years (through numbers). He discovers 3 more events on the paper that haven’t occurred yet. The movie begins well with some good shocks and a brief discussion about determinism vs. chaos and fate vs. free will . . .But eventually, the film squarely sides with determinism and leaves the philosophy in the dust. Likewise, the action scenes are spectacular early on. The plane crash scene (in a long uninterrupted take) is exciting, frightening, and surprisingly ambitious. It will no doubt rate as one of the best of the year. The subsequent action scenes (the subway scene and car chase) are too familiar to be entirely memorable. Cage is fine, but doesn’t do anything you haven’t seen before. The remainder of the cast is largely unknown and does an admirable job. But I can always do without the female lead screeching about children.Directed by Alex Proyas, the film doesn’t reach the intelligence and vision of Dark City (A-), but he does manage some terrific visuals during the climactic scenes. The last 15 minutes are filled with Biblical allusions (Noah’s Ark, Garden of Eden). It may even include Ezekiel’s Wheel but I’ll leave that to someone more knowledgeable (that’d be you, Priest). The movie gets repetitive and drags a bit in the second half. It seems composed of parts of better movies (War of the Worlds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), but it's apocalyptic atomsphere seems appropriate for 2009 America. It’s much better than expected (which I attribute to Proyas) and surprisingly pro-Christian. B