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Knowing

Review By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

Knowing is really involving science fiction, a story built around an interesting concept that actually goes to the places you never expect these movies to go to. It's out there, it's ambitious, and despite some moments that drag, it totally works.

I do say all that with a full understanding that the movie has gotten completely eviscerated by most critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, three "top critics" have given the film a positive review versus nineteen who've given it a negative review.

Now, as a critic, it's probably no surprise that I read a lot of reviews myself, but I actually take my review-reading seriously. Whenever I love a movie, I pay close attention to the bad reviews, and whenever I hate a movie, I pay close attention to the good ones. I find it usually gives me a better feel for the film -- and over the years, it's also made me nearly immune to the knee-jerk "that critic is a complete idiot" reaction.

But it's not working for Knowing. I'm getting annoyed and very knee-jerky. Every negative review I've read goes something like this:

"Nicolas Cage sucks."

The reviews usually spend the lion's share of their word counts talking about Cage's unique brand of acting, and often mention The Wicker Man to back up their case. That really bad Cage horror vehicle from 2006 was barely seen by anyone -- except critics, of course, and apparently they're still bitter about it. Just ask them.

Despite a few particularly Cage-y lines, I thought he was fine, for the record. He plays an M.I.T. science professor named John Koestler, a widow with a young son who comes into possession of a piece of paper with a pattern of numbers on it that has predicted every major disaster of the last fifty years -- with a few more to come.

The pattern threatens Koestler's belief in a random, not deterministic, universe -- and if the future is predetermined, can he do anything to stop it?

And who was whispering the pattern to the little girl who wrote it down fifty years ago? And are they the same people who've started stalking John and his son from afar?

These are questions that I think should get science fiction fans excited. Apparently, though, other critics have taken the random vs. deterministic theme and decided it makes Knowing a "religious" movie, and therefore a target of further ridicule. As the credits were rolling at the screening I went to, a critic behind me said (to his friend, but mostly to hear himself talk), "If I wanted to see a Billy Graham movie, I would have." Huh? A lot of critics are comparing it to M. Night Shyamalan's Signs as though that's an insult; they've forgotten that most of them gave ...