I really enjoyed it.

The last 20 minutes or so are definitely not for sci-fi virgins. Once the old Ludwig Symphony #7 kicks in during Earth's death rattle, just give in and let go.

I loved this. Great science fiction that makes you think. It's also a very
effective thriller. There is one scene for me that really didn't work, but
otherwise it was nearly flawless in it's vision and execution.

A-

So, not what I expected at all.

First of all, it was surprising to see Nicolas Cage not be terrible after his recent cinematic disasters, although there's still scenes that made me unintentionally laugh (I almost felt a Wicker Man moment at one part where he's yelling). Not that he's that great in this, or anyone for that matter, but nothing so bad that it affected the film, I'd say.

Had I not read from Ebert's review that this is "one of the best sci-fi movies ever," I wouldn't have even known it was a sci-fi flick, and boy is it. And I'll agree with loyal that the ending is pretty freakin' awesome and the perfect wrap-up to this. If this had a better budget (I'm gonna assume it didn't), I think it could have been really impressive, because the special effects were a bit ehhh.

I don't necessarily agree with the "best sci-fi movie ever" remark but this was surprisingly really good. Maybe great.

It reportedly has a 50 million budget, not bad, but not that great considering it's a big F/X movie, and a good portion of the budget probably went to Nicholas.

Wow. You guys really liking it makes me much more interested in seeing it. I'll still wait for DVD, but I wasn't even sure I'd rent it before.

knowing

I caught this film at a screening on Monday night. It was a full theatre but that was due to being in a mid size theatre and giving away a ton of tickets. Two hundred people had to find something else to do that evening.

I liked the idea of this movie and it reminded me of the Number 23, but this movie is beyond better than that trash movie. In this movie, Cage does a lot of giving a serious looking face when staring into the camera and standing in his manly stance. I liked the kid who played his son. I enjoyed the story and I really liked the sound effects / background music in the movie too. It really sets the mood and puts you right in the movie.

The highlight of the film is the three major visual effects sequences which have been given away already in the trailers, but they are still effective and very powerful and overwhelming almost. It was pretty realistic and detailed, I thought. The last one is especially doom and gloom and pretty depressing.

The film also had some religious tones in it toward the end. It also did kind of fizzle at the end as well in terms of the story and the last few scenes but I still enjoyed the film.

I think this will be a Hit for Cage.

Grade - b

Very good film, and completely not what I was expecting. I was expecting something shitacular like The Day the Earth Stood Still from the previews of Knowing. I like apocalyptic movies, but I've always hated that the majority of them end happily, with the day being saved. Knowing's ending is anything but. The fucking world is actually destroyed in this movie, which was a nice change of pace among most impending apocalypse movies. The scene of the plane crash was pretty amazing, with Nicolas Cage's character running out to the rubble to help anyone still alive. The only drawback I can really think of is the mostly sub par/mediocre acting, especially from Nicolas Cage. But it was a very good film, regardless.

out of

Knowing is very good - - very thoughtful and intelligent, yet punctuated with intense action, and emotional resonance...

The screenplay is solid, if a tad sluggish. The acting is well above adequate. The cheese is kept to a reasonable level, never being allowed to get too plentiful or too ripe.

It played like the creepiest of horror movies. It played like the best Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew crossover mystery ever. It played like a 70's disaster movie suffering from clinical depression. It played like the twilightzoningnest bucking bronco of a story we ever get to see nowadays. It played like butta...

Get to a protected underground location IMMEDIATELY!!!

All in all, it's quite a balancing act, and a welcome return to form for the director of this film's noble ancestor Dark City as well as The Crow - - Alex Proyas needs to make more movies! (...and I nominate his next project to be: Knowing 2: Rebirth - - I , for one, being from off planet myself, can't wait to see what comes next on the human's new home...)

out of

bad music
horrible parenting (left the kids alone all the time)
some hilariously stupid moments
a horrible plan from the alien race to choose a genetically defected kid, and only 2 of each specie, ensuring the survival of the species of earth will lack any diversification, thus rendering all of them useless in the coming years.

but on the whole, great premise and loads of fun.

You guys are all on crack.

Review coming soon. One of the worst movies I've seen in years.

can't wait!

This was pretty great, and nice to see a film not chicken out with the ending.

I've decided to sum up my thoughts on this movie in a very RT consensus type way:
Knowing features fantastic visuals, a great score, a very enticing sci-fi plot, and a hell of an ending that will leave you breathless. Despite all this, it also has very sluggish pacing, weak perfomances, terrible dialouge derived from a slow moving and overly wrought script and poorly drawn character that do nothing to help the film. Overall the positives beat out the negatives, but not enough to call it anything other than what it is, pretty good.
6.5/10

Also, how the fuck did they make this movie for 50 million dollars? Honestly, that is mind boggling. The visuals all across the board are absolutely breathtaking and the disaster sequences are incredible, how they did that on a relatively cheap budget is beyond me.

They kept production costs down by filming here in Melbourne. My GF was supposed to be an extra but was sick when they were filming.

well still, it is a very impressive looking film that cost very little. Will it do well OS? I have been told that disaster flicks usually do.

Yeah, this is awesome. It's this year's Cloverfield... ignored by critics cause they hate B movie types, but sneakily a mini-classic of its subgenre. I hope Ebert gives it the Dark City treatment on his top ten list and its reputation grows over time. It's like a Hitch suspense thriller mixed with a Deep Impact mixed with Signs or Close Encounters mixed with Crimes and Misdemeanors.

I think it's biggest strength is when it pumps up the danger, action or stakes. The ghost-like stranger device hasn't been used this well in forever, they're legitimately frightening and shaking, which adds to the stakes of the chases and such. Specifically, the window pointing scene and the mouth turn-around thing are AWESOME. The plane crash and burning is also epic and perfect.

I liked how after presenting the randomness vs deterministic debate, they make the whole film an apparant resounding victory for the latter, before turning it all on its head and leaving it as the question it is in the end. Clearly the aliens are in touch with time and the future, but does that mean Cage's involvement in this is a matter of his destiny and meaning? Or is it just a series of "shit happens" events in a unmoveable sequence of time that the aliens foresaw their involvement in, independently from any higher force or determined destiny. The whole film fits together well, both in events making sense once the end is known and thematic foreshadowing snippets of dialog.

Just great movie all-around. Best of this year so far and one of the best sci-fis in a while.

5/5

I've been thinking about a few "what ifs"

What if Cage's character didn't save those few people at the plane crash
What if he didn't save the mother and child on the train.

The numbers would of been off. But I guess those people would have been saved in some other manner. Same thing with his wife. Had she not died in the hotel, someone else would have in her place.

I agree with many/most of the compliments you give the film, and if I have never said it before, you are a very talented writer.
However, perhaps you disagree, but I found the characters poorly developed and uninteresting and the plot sluggish and too slow to pull together, which really dampened the movie for me. Did you not notice any of that? Is it all in my head?????

well if you follow the determistic viewpoint the numbers would have already calculated in the fact that Cage's character would be there to save the people from the crash. If they predicted the crash, they also predicted that he would help, and predicted every facet of what exactly would happen.

I'm having a hard time forming a coherent opinion of this one...on one hand the blatant sci-fi of the ending was somewhat disappointing after such a gripping mystery, but at the same time the genre-bend is not inherently bad. At the very least I can say I've been thinking about the movie almost constantly since I saw it. The whole plane sequence was incredibly well-done and very memorable.

I'll give it a B.

I realize that a lot of people here dug the grand sci-fi ending to Knowing, rather than the typical "hero saves the day" thing, but I see there were a couple of dissenters...


I'm wondering how those who didn't enjoy the ending would have preferred the story to conclude?

I'm kind of curious to check this out now.

The writers of Knowing (Stiles White and Juliet Snowden) are also doing remakes of The Birds and Poltergeist. Bodes well for those two films.

http://www.thewrap.com/ind-column/2022