Knowing

by Lelia Nebeker

In the last few years, Nicolas Cage has teetered on the edge of becoming a “paycheck” actor. He has chosen roles which, unfortunately, do not showcase the full range of his acting talents. The NATIONAL TREASURE blockbuster films have shown Cage at his best. However, lackluster career misfires such as BANGKOK DANGEROUS, NEXT, THE WICKER MAN, and THE WEATHER MAN have tried my patience. Nicolas Cage has become “the devil I know”. I am always willing to give him more chances because there is a hit just around the corner.

Cage’s latest film KNOWING, released March 2009, shows a return to fine form. The movie starts in 1958, when an elementary school plants a time capsule with student pictures in the ground during their dedication ceremony. Fast forward 50 years later and the current students remove the time capsule and view the pictures. At this point, Cage enters the picture as a recent widower and single father. When his son brings home a student-drawn picture with numbers on them, Cage becomes intrigued. As the plot unfolds, he begins to dismiss his astrophysics professor scientific skepticism and deciphers the numbers on the picture. The numbers reveal a list of disasters that have occurred in the past 50 years, as well as three impending ones. At this point, Cage is on a mission to prevent the next three disasters as his professor buddy, played by Ben Mendelsohn, and the authorities dismiss his warnings.

Honorable mention for this film goes to Cage’s leading lady, actress Rose Byrne. Byrne, who served a minor role in Brad Pitt’s TROY (2004) does not just serve as movie eye candy. She actually turns in an outstanding performance as the daughter of the woman who wrote the prophecies. She has her skepticisms when meeting Cage but eventually helps him try and avert the alleged upcoming disasters. Byrne provides an emotionally poignant performance as a single mother and caretaker in the movie for the children involved. Let’s hope Hollywood begins to take notice of her skills and casts her in more films like this.

KNOWING provides some top-notch special effects. The disaster sequences, not to be revealed here, are simply amazing. They punctuate the film’s fast pacing and excellent dialogue. The special effects do not overwhelm the story or viewer, they enhance the experience.  Also, the movie’s reveal scene, climax, and ending flow well and tie together all the loose ends. I highly recommend this film to sci-fi lovers and people who just love great films. Let’s hope Cage’s inevitable future forays into sci-fi deliver similar results.