Knowing doesn’t
(or at least I want to believe it didn’t try to) present scientific facts as
accurately as it claims. I also have some criticism about the direction the
filmmakers chose for this movie. It’s multi-directional, which can make it hard
for viewers to stay engaged. The movie starts on a scientific path, shifts to
predicting the future, then tries to change the future, and finally settles on
an otherworldly experience for a select few.
While all these directions might seem plausible, they can leave you as confused
as the lead character, who’s desperately trying to make sense of the numbers
before him. I for one think the movie would have been better focusing on one
path, than trying to touch all possible movie categories.
The plot
revolves around numbers, dates, and GPS coordinates of events that have
happened—or will happen. These numbers fall into the hands of Professor John
Koestler (Nicolas Cage), an astrophysicist, when he takes his son to school for
the opening of a time capsule buried exactly fifty years ago.
The capsule contains letters written by students from five decades earlier,
buried by their teacher. She returns to open the capsule and distributes the
letters to the current students, so they can see what their predecessors left
behind.
Caleb (John’s
son) receives a letter from a girl named Lucinda, filled with numbers, while
his classmates get letters with drawings. Caleb takes the list of numbers home,
and after some analysis, John discovers that the numbers correspond to dates,
death tolls, and locations of tragic events—many of which have already
occurred. He later realizes that some of the numbers are coordinates for future
disasters.
John tracks down
the daughter of the girl who wrote the numbers (after learning that Lucinda has
passed away) and questions her about her mother’s ability to predict the future
with such accuracy.
She helps him see that some of the numbers were written in mirror image, adding
another layer to the mystery.
All of this
leads John to uncover an impending catastrophic event. Along the way, he has to
deal with mysterious men who keep appearing around his son, always managing to
evade him whenever he gives chase.
Knowing did
well at the box office and was one of Nicolas Cage’s last major hits. That
said, the movie’s multi-directional approach with multiple subplots might be
off-putting for viewers who prefer a more straightforward narrative.
0 comments:
Post a Comment