Knowing (2009): Movie Review
Monday, June 29, 2009;)
DIRECTED BY
PRODUCED BY
- Todd Black
- Jason Blumenthal
- Steve Tisch
STORY
- Ryne Douglas Pearson
SCREENPLAY
- Ryne Douglas Pearson
- Alex Proyas
- Stuart Hazeldine
- Juliet Snowden
- Stiles White
STARRING
MUSIC BY
CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Simon Duggan
EDITING BY
- Richard Learoyd
RUNNING TIME
- 121 minutes
BUDGET
- $50 million
GROSS REVENUE
- ~ $150 million
TRAILER
PLOT (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
"In 1959, at William Dawes Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts, a time capsule containing the students' drawings of their ideas of the future is buried and set to be ceremoniously opened 50 years later. A girl named Lucinda Embry contributes a page full of seemingly random digits. That night, Lucinda is found in a school closet, where her fingers are bloodied and she complains about hearing voices.
In 2009, the time capsule is opened and the drawings are given to the current students. A boy named Caleb receives Lucinda's envelope. His father John Koestler, a widower and professor of astrophysics at MIT takes interest in the paper, and he soon realizes that part of these digits form dates and death tolls of every major disaster over the past fifty years, and suggests three disasters still to come. Meanwhile, Caleb begins receiving visits from mysterious figures in overcoats,[a] and during his encounters he hears their overlapping telepathic whispers.
John witnesses a commercial plane crash on the date the paper next predicted a disaster would occur, and he discovers that the unexplained digits on the paper are in fact the geographic coordinates of the events. Speaking with Lucinda's former teacher, John learns of Lucinda's closet episode, and also that she had since died after an overdose. He then meets Lucinda's daughter, Diana Wayland, but is rebuffed once he mentions Lucinda's paper. However, after John uses the numbers to correctly predict another disaster—a Manhattan subway train derailment which John tries and fails to prevent—Diana seeks out John, and together they go to investigate Lucinda's old remote mobile home. Having noticed that the last date on the paper is not accompanied by coordinates, further clues in Lucinda's home lead John and Diana to realize that the '33' listed as the death toll for the final disaster is actually 'EE' reversed, which Lucinda meant to represent 'Everyone Else'. In the woods outside the home, John confronts one of The Strangers, who disappears in a flash of light. It is revealed that Diana's daughter Abby can hear The Strangers' eerie whispers as well.
John and a fellow professor forecast that a massive solar flare will soon reach Earth, and the final disaster on Lucinda's paper will indeed be global in scale. John then examines the door of the closet in which Lucinda was found, and discovers it is where she had scratched another set of coordinates. They represent the location of Lucinda's old mobile home, and John figures that it is somehow a refuge from the impending disaster. Diana insists they seek shelter in a system of underground caves instead, and she takes Abby and Caleb, without John's knowledge, to go there. As panic erupts at a gas station after news of the flare is made public through an Emergency Alert System broadcast, The Strangers drive off in Diana's car with Caleb and Abby still inside. Diana gives chase in another vehicle, and is killed when she is broadsided by a truck.
At Lucinda's mobile home, John finds the children with the four Strangers as a glowing vessel descends from the sky. The Strangers dispossess themselves of their human appearance, revealing themselves to be glowing, translucent figures surrounded by wisps of light. The Strangers invite only those who can hear their whispers to escape the destruction with them. John convinces an initially reluctant Caleb to go with The Strangers, and the vessel departs with the two children. From the vantage point of space, other ships are seen taking off from all around Earth. John travels to Boston to be with his sister and parents. While he had distanced himself from religion following his wife's death, John reconciles with his previously estranged father, a Christian minister. John and his family embrace as the solar flare strikes, and the resulting radiation incinerates all life on Earth. Elsewhere, Caleb and Abby are dropped off in an otherworldly field, as other ships are visible along the horizon, dropping off others. The film ends as the two make their way towards a large, solitary tree in the distance."
This was one of those movies where you think it's just another regular movie, but it's actually not. When I saw the trailer, I thought the movie was going to be something like Final Destination. It was, actually. But it had a different type of twist to it, and I thought that made the movie very interesting. I have not watched The Da Vinci Code yet, but I'm pretty sure Knowing can somehow relate to that movie as well. How? Well, basically, the movie has something to do with deaths and numbers. And I just found that to be a very interesting concept. Since I liked this movie, I think I might like the Da Vinci Code as well, if at all it's anything like this movie.
Knowing is actually an action, mystery and thriller movie. It's about a professor named John Koestler, who gets hold of a sheet of paper that consists of what seems to be like random numbers. He got the sheet from his son, Caleb, when he attended a time capsule opening ceremony at school. At first, John isn't sure what the numbers mean, but he later finds out that the numbers actually represent horrible events that had already occurred or that are about to.
That's basically what the movie is about. Saying anymore than this will simply be a spoiler. But of course, you can always watch the trailer for more details on what the movie is about. Anyway, it sounds very interesting doesn't it? But it doesn't sound scary right? Well, I never expected it, but I was a little scared of the movie. I don't know why or how these directors come up with ideas about the world getting destroyed, but I'm getting a little sick of it. And to make things worst, the new upcoming movie, "2012", is also about world destruction! If they really want the world to be destroyed, I think I better start applying video game rules from games like Grand Theft Auto into real life. Oops, did I say too much?
The movie did alright in the box office I suppose. It was released in the United Stated and Canada on March 20, 2009, and it grossed about $24 million in it's opening weekend. As of April 26, 2009, the movie grossed out at about $150 million in total. Comparing these numbers to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Paul wins. I'm not sure why, but it could be because Knowing was mainly about deaths, and people might be getting tired of it, just like how I am. I think directors and story writers have just lost their imaginations about directing and writing good solid movies. Because action movies and thriller movies aren't just about deaths. It could be so much more. Don't get me wrong here, the story for this movie was top notch, and so was the directing. The movie was executed very well as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, something new should or coulave been done.
Overall, when I watched this movie, I did enjoy it. I actually loved the movie, but of course, I have to say what I thought about the movie right? Hence the harsh sayings in the above paragraphs. LOL. Maybe the one complaint I might have is about Beethoven's music that was played. It was Symphony No.7 in A Major, Op. 92 (2nd Movement: Allegretto). It's an awesome symphony, but I think they played it too many times and I also thought that the symphony didn't quite go well with the movie. Don't get me wrong, it's one of the greatest symphony's ever, but it just doesn't fit the movie very well. Not a major pain, but they could have chosen better music that would actually fit the movie. Other than that minor issue, everything about the movie was good and everything made sense (movie wise). It was a great movie. Good as a family movie as well as a loner movie. Whether you want to watch it or not, is up to you. It's not a must watch movie, but it's definitely worth checking out.
Final Verdict: 4 / 5
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Reader Comments (5)
Why is it that disaster movies tend to be popular with directors? Is it because they want to see the Earth getting destroyed one day? ^^
Okay, enough of that. I've heard of this movie from CJ, and he told me it could be worth watching. I doubted it, so I didn't get to watch. But man oh man, I'm just waiting for G.I. Joe to be released! ^^
@jusuchin85: Yeah, I'm guessing that they secretly wish for the world to be destroyed. Lol. But it's still a good movie though. Can't deny it, the trailer for G.I. Joe looks freakin' awesome man!
i like this movie... just the action parts but the story is just like u said dey... and i need to thank you dey... ur my sifu... once and forever... thanks...=)
i kinda LoL-ed at this movie :/ well everything is fine until the aliens showed up..I mean "ghost" =.= .. really if they don't make it too alienated it could be a better movie..and the ending is like zomgwtfbbq..
Disaster movie? may be 2012 would do a better movie filling you up with disastrous action meals ^^ Snake Eye weeee XD and District 9 is a notable budgeted movie too ^^
@dd: No problem man! Glad I could be of help.
@BobO: Yeah, the aliens were alright I guess, could you imagine if such a thing was to happen in real life? LOL. 2012 did look kind of interesting, but like I said, these useless director's have got to make different movies, no more disaster movies. It was cool when movies like this came out before, like The Day After Tomorrow. But they are doing it too much now. And I'm also hearing a lot of good things about District 9.