Knowing (2009) : The Cagepocalypse [Mike’s Review]
Today on Cage Club the world is going to end and there is nothing Cage can do about it in Knowing !!! This is Cage’s second, and so far last, science fiction movie and boy does he make it count. This movie is packed with enough cool ideas to make three movies out of. Unfortunately at times this movie collapses under it’s own weight, having to juggle one too many plot lines, but Cage is consistent and good the whole time, serving as my guide through this maddening prophecy which predicts the end of the world. Crazy numbers, time capsules, solar flares, science vs faith, this movie is packed full of great ideas, but do they align in a manner that makes sense, and does it matter?
Cage plays John Koestler, a professor at M.I.T. which is about all the movie really tells us about him. I believe he’s actually an astrophysicist that studies the Sun and it’s effects on solar systems, based on one of his lectures. This is the first time we see Cage as a Professor too and he totally pulls it off. Maybe it’s because his father was also a professor and it just runs in the family ? One day his son’s class unearths a time capsule at school that was buried for about 50 years. Cage’s son gets a piece of paper covered with numbers that he is compelled to take hime with him. That night, while drinking and thinking about his recently deceased wife, Cage starts to see patterns in the numbers and concludes that they all mark the day of a terrible catastrophe in human history. He then discovers that three events have not happened yet and the race is on to get people to believe him and solve the mystery of the crazy numbers. Cage go into obsession mode and even witnesses a terrible plane crash predicted by the numbers. He also goes to try and prevent a catastrophe in NYC, but to no avail. Cage is resigned to simply accept the truth, that the world is going to end and there is nothing he can do about it. Cage tries to tell his colleagues but they think he’s nuts even until Cage shows them a model of the Sun he made to predict solar flares and indeed the Sun is getting ready to blast the Earth with a deadly solar flare that will take out every person on the planet. Cage even tracks down the daughter of the little girl who wrote the numbers in the first place and put them in the time capsule. Diana ( Rose Byrne) has been raised by a crazy mother who told her the day she was going to die and never thought it was real, that she could decide her own fat, but when Cage tracked her down and her mother’s predictions come true, she has to question everything she ever knew. The only thing Cage wants now is to keep his son safe and the answer just may be the mysterious whisper people that have been tailing Cage and his son the whole movie. They are definitely up to something, maybe sinister, but they can’t communicate with adults, only children. On the last night of the Earth, Diana tries to steal the kids away to the caves, but Cage knows it’s futile. He’s decoded that final number string and its a set of co-ordinates that may be their salvation. The Whisper People take the kids form Diana and she is killed in a car accident on the day her mother predicted and Cage is off to confront the mystery men who took his kids. At the final co-ordinates, Cage reunites with his son only to learn that the Whisper People are actually Aliens that look a lot like Angels. The Aliens have the ability to save all the children, or most of them, and transport them to a new world where they can live in peace and prosper to create a new society. Cage is left on Earth to burn in the final Flare with everyone else in some spectacular imagery of the world catching fire. The final scene shows the children on a new planet covered in wheat and running towards a giant tree in the field.
There is so much image and so many ideas in this movie that at times it definitely feels lop sided and overloaded, but I like everything it’s trying to say even if it’s clumsy. This is in stark contrast to the first time I watched this movie and felt betrayed by the film makers for producing such a garbled mess of ideas. Over time I have come to find much to like about this movie, even if at times it feels like it is dropping the ball or forcing things to happen. I could envision a version of this movie that is much more streamlined and more enjoyable, and could also see enough here for two or three separate films exploring the rich tapestry of cool and crazy science fiction ideas. My first screening I was not very enthused about the Man of Science vs Man of Faith stuff, especially the Alien Angels reveal in the end. But this time I liked the concept that plays off stories like “Chariots of the Gods?” and ancient aliens. While it was enough to be the central focus of any other film, the faith vs science debate is only a small part of this jam packed story.
This movie feels almost like an entire season of “The Twilight Zone” wrapped into one, or even someone’s version of a “LOST” movie. The problem is that ultimately there is not enough time to expand and understand everything that is thrown at in a two hour running time. Those were TV shows that had seasons to explore and deal with theses issues and themes where as this is a two hour movie that doesn’t have the luxury of time to expound on every idea sufficiently.
Next up we get back to another children’s film with G-Fore in which Cage will provide some voice over work. This film is a hybrid of live action and animation and Cage certainly doesn’t play a human but rather a mole that can talk and use a computer. I hope he goes big this time with the voice as previous kid’s movies have shown him to mostly sound like his natural voice. This movie will also reunite him with is partner in Matchstick Men and his love interest in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Cage is in good company next time with G-Force here at Cage Club.
Mike
@the_mikestir
