Knowing.
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne.
Director: Alex Proyas
Rated: M
Released: July 29 on DVD.
Reviewer: JADE KENNEDY
If you are expecting anything different from the usual homogeneous and cheerless projects Nicolas Cage has been delivering of late, then you’ll be bitterly disappointed with Knowing.
Cage plays Professor John Koestler, a man bereaved by the loss of his wife and struggling to beas a single parent. He refrains withdraws from friends, family and is generally isolated from the world in every facet of the term. His personaHe lives on the edge of remote woodlands, drinks excessively, and avoids human interaction, to name a few of the symbols used. The over simplification of these nuances displaces the audience immediately. Are we really that stupid?
Cage’s character has lost faith in religion and to some extent, the world, until his son, Caleb, brings home a coded message from a time capsule, which depicts every major disaster in the past five decades, and those to come.
The next 121 minutes consist of religious overtones, laborious characters, and manifesting disaster. But it’s not all bad. The scenes of devastation are visually pleasing, although CG dependent. The highly advertised plane incident is a chilling image; still unsettling after September 11.
The original premise for the piece is a good one, but there are several predominant downfalls blemishes to the film. The first being poor execution. T; the once melodic workings of Cage now seem overbearing. It’s hard for the audience to connect with the disenchanted persona Cage creates. Rose Byrne, who plays the daughter of the original seer, does a lot of crying, screaming, and making overtly poor decisions. It’s hard to enjoy a film when someone is consistently constantly in hysteriahysterical.
In today’s times of the global economic crisis and other societal issues, such pessimistic films don’t seem to be fulfilling the audience. Knowing is reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s works, which also having been fairing too well – think The Happening. Hopefully all involved in this film will return to form, including director Alex Proyas, who’s whose works include I Robot. Similarly, we wait with great zeal for the day Nicolas Cage returns to more poignant and challenging works.
