Knowing [spoiler warning]

[rarisgod]

Alright, recently saw the movie Knowing, and I'm curious what others think.

I liked the movie at first. I liked the concept of using the numbers to trace back to disasters that occurred, and then realizing that more were to occur soon. However, I did not like the ending.

It went from being a puzzle-solving/thriller type movie to a sci-fi movie, and it really bugged me. The ending threw away the whole movie for me.

There was no explanation as to how the people from space knew when and where the disasters would occur. I could see if Lucinda had some sort of ESP or something, or something came to her where she knew these things would happen, and where. That isn't necessarily realistic, but at least it would've gone with how the movie seemed in the beginning. Instead, space creatures came and somehow they predicted these events and told them to a girl who would end up putting them to no use until Nicholas Cage's character found the list 50 years later. Couldn't they have predicted that the list of numbers would do nothing? And how did they know these events would occur? And if so, why wouldn't they start saving the human race earlier instead of trying to start over with 2 children? (and 2 rabbits)
and what was with the scene in the forest where Nicholas Cage was face to face with the "space creature" and he opened his mouth and shone a bright light? What was the significance?

Maybe I'm being far too skeptical, but that whole area of the movie turned me right off of it.

Any other opinions? Possible explanations? Discussion!

[TOOL460002]

not to give a non-answer answer, but i wouldnt put a lot of effort into analyzing this film, as imdb mentions the director (alex proyas) is comparable to michael bay in both his career path and his emphasis on visual, sci-fi movies. to me, this means buy cheap screenplay, find star, spend most of your budget on special effects, make money, and then continue not caring whether or not anyone will remember your work, on which you spent millions of dollars, and thousands of man-hours to complete.

that said, i will acquire said film in a moment, and if i can make it through to the end, i will give you my opinion, but just from your description, it sounds like that last indiana jones to me, as far as the criteria listed, and i couldnt make it through that garbage. i just hope you didnt pay for this movie experience.

anyway, i will be back in the next 24 hours to continue to talk **** on this film, or at least weigh in on the questions you asked. (for the record: i dont feel like anything was spoiled in your post, but thanks for the heads-up just the same.)

[rarisgod]

lol well I didn't really look into the director myself...but fair enough. Do share opinions, but I wasn't aware it was predictable.

[Sartori]

Yeah, I felt that the ending was pretty awkward and seemed pretty tacked on. Too bad, because the premise was a kinda cool concept.

[rarisgod]

Originally Posted by Sartori

Yeah, I felt that the ending was pretty awkward and seemed pretty tacked on. Too bad, because the premise was a kinda cool concept.

Exactly. The premise was a cool concept, but "tacked on" was exactly how I felt about the ending. It's like they had a good story going, and didn't know how to end it, so wrote some ending afterwards...and it didn't fit IMO.

[doctorjazz]

+1 to the above. It made what was otherwise a cool movie kind of meh.

[()smoke()]

the ending was a lot better than everything up to that point, imo...the rest of the movie was explained in the first 30 minutes then stretched out until the ending--which i agree feels scabbed onto the plot aside from obvious shallow references to how astronomy plays into it...the spaceship as it hovered to take in the passengers was phenomenal

there were a lot more than 2 kids saved, no? i saw a lot of ships in the new world

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I feel the same way. At the begging they had you believe there was something prophetic going on, then the aliens came and ruined the movie.

I rented this movie by suggestion and even though I thought it was going to be more of a "dooms day-disaster" type of movie the aliens factor was a little predictable. The lecture Nicolas Cage was giving and the discussion he had with his son at the begging of the movie kind of led you in that direction. Throw in a little "2012" crackpot theories and there you have it. Once the "whisper people" were thrown into the mix it started going that way.

I was a little disappointed that the whole prophetic part of the movie was nothing more than a McGuffin and it went so, sooooo sci-fi in the end. If it were a movie about aliens "coming back" to protect the human race and start over on another planted, the fact that the kids for the past 50 years had all the prior predictions of disaster made no sense. You know,.....the whole first half of the movie.

Anywho,...I wasn't all that disappointed with the actual ending just how they got to it. a disaster movie with a sci-fi surprise! Perhaps my own fault for renting without knowing much about the movie. IIRC, the previews also made you believe it was nothing more than a disaster movie as well.

And if so, why wouldn't they start saving the human race earlier instead of trying to start over with 2 children? (and 2 rabbits)
and what was with the scene in the forest where Nicholas Cage was face to face with the "space creature" and he opened his mouth and shone a bright light? What was the significance?

There were actually more than just those two kids. At the end of the movie you could see more space ships landing and taking off from the planet.

I believe the scene when Nicolas Cage first came face to face with the aliens was simply to let you know they weren't human. If that wasn't figured out by then.

[hover]

Originally Posted by ()smoke()

the ending was a lot better than everything up to that point, --the spaceship as it hovered to take in the passengers was phenomenal

there were a lot more than 2 kids saved, no? i saw a lot of ships in the new world

agreed. and yeah, the whole field was being littered with people...children or otherwise....

Not a terrible movie, but certainly not great either, and I like some of Proyas' work, Dark City and the Crow, namely. Sure he had music video roots, but he's not *entirely* a hack... He creates mood just as good as Mike Bay creates action.

[TOOL460002]

Originally Posted by hover

Not a terrible movie, but certainly not great either, and I like some of Proyas' work, Dark City and the Crow, namely.

ah crap, he did dark city? great movie... i shouldve looked into his career further, as saw that (i think) on the opening day, and it really is like the matrix, just a year earlier, and with keifer sutherland. anyway, here is another nicolas cage gem where he can predict the future (saw part of it on a plane as best i can recall):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435705/

lastly, i promise i will be watching it shortly to give a truly informed opinion, instead of more uninformed trash-talk. im halfway through six gigs of bluray goodness, so if that cant bring out the magic, then my cynicism shall be justified.

if it sucks, i hope they re-release it with zombies instead of aliens. i can watch a sh*tty zombie movie any day; aliens not so much.

[hover]

Yeah, the Brothers Wachowski, in my book, are kinda sorta plagiarists...but then again, so isn't just about everyone in that genre.

The Matrix was surely a bit more refined in its presentation, but lost it and or abandoned everything that made it cool in the last two installments...whereas to this day Dark City endures, and leaves me asking questions whenever I see it...or at least discovering a new little this or that.

[FreaqyFrequency]

Originally Posted by hover

The Matrix {snip} lost and or abandoned everything that made it cool in the last two installments{snip}

Disagreed. While number three was a bit of a sleeper, I'll agree; number two, in my opinion, still had a lot to offer philosophically (particularly the Merovingian and the Architect), and the acting was fantastic. Hell, even Keanu wasn't that bad in the trilogy; I quickly grew to like his acting style: refined, perhaps lacking energy, yet it came to feel appropriate to the role.

I see where many reviewers who feel how you feel get off, but how could the storyline of reality versus perception be carried on? There were other points to be made, and that particular one had the whole damn first movie dedicated to it.

Plus, dude. Hugo Weaving? He surely saved any flaws that may have been present in the last two installments, no?

[TOOL460002]

Originally Posted by FreaqyFrequency

Disagreed. While number three was a bit of a sleeper, I'll agree; number two, in my opinion, still had a lot to offer philosophically (particularly the Merovingian and the Architect), and the acting was fantastic.

i agree with you for the most part, as i really did enjoy the second one, but the fact that it ended as a "to be continued" thing just really pissed me off, and left me rather apathetic with regards to the third (which i still paid for to see in a theater). then again, i have the same beef with tv shows that do the same, which is one of the reasons, albeit a small one, why showtimes dexter is so great. make your season (or movie) and make it complete. if you have so much talent on board, then you shouldnt need a cliff-hanger to get the audience back. hopefully that wasnt too tangential.

[MakiSupaStar]

I don't know, but I felt kind of preached to. I remember I got on the Internet to see I'd there were any Scientology connections to the flick. I remember doing the searches, but five minutes later I was looking at porn again.

[hover]

Originally Posted by FreaqyFrequency

Disagreed. While number three was a bit of a sleeper, I'll agree; number two, in my opinion, still had a lot to offer philosophically (particularly the Merovingian and the Architect)

how could the storyline of reality versus perception be carried on? There were other points to be made, and that particular one had the whole damn first movie dedicated to it.

Ok, well I concede to a few points here, but we both could agree, maybe, that installment two could have been nixed and the Merovingian & Architect introduced in installment three and we really would not have lost much of anything but a sword fight, and million Smith fight and a car chase, a Bacardi Ad and a real odd love scene...it just seemed like set pieces and filler. Well, at least to me.

[SnoMan]

I enjoyed this movie...I recommend being very inhebriated and just laughing at the absurdity of it all. The movie just seemed really silly to me. The action moments were way over the top...and halarity ensued. There was a lot of unnecessary mounting suspense in the film. I found this best delt with by talking through the dramatic buildups. I mean, when it paid off, it was worth it, but they tried to over do it. Basically, I don't recommend taking the film too seriously, but it can be pretty fun if you want it to be.

Also, I don't get why everyone is calling them aliens. I mean, sure, they come out of the sky, but the movie's concept is clearly the second biblical clensing by fire. I noticed the multiple ships in the ending sequence in the 'new eden', but I never suspected them to be dropping off more humans as it didn't gel with the biblical concept. With that point brought up, I can see the validity in it and it brings up interesting questions, but it's a moot point as no questions will be answered.

[DeluxeRed]

Knowing looked like a good original idea that got "committeed" to death by the studio to try to touch several different genres at the last moment. Despite the Close Encounters style of "landing" in the ending, I think Roddenberry established in the 60's that takeoffs and landings are really a waste of time and mean you ran out of script.

I lost it with Knowing when NC wrote down all of the numbers--and no one ever scanned the document or even touch-typed the bloody things into a computer. A VIDEO PICTURE OF THE WHITEBOARD, FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!

If you like NC movies, "Next" is a much better flick.

The Matrix movies were losers just from the standpoint of the fist fights. For whatzhizname to spend one nanosecond duking it out with Agent Whoosie to absolutely no avail, then to just leave (like he shoulda done in the first place) after an intermitable amount of time with no impact on the story or character put the Matrix fist fights right up there with "Blues Brothers 2000" absolutely pointless car chase/wreck scenes.

[SnoMan]

Deluxe...you just innuendoed your last paragraph into making no sense to me whatsoever. Are you talking about the final fight or what?

...why are we talking about the Matrix?



Also, of all things, the straw that broke the camels back was that they didn't create a digital copy of the numbers? I mean, I can see your point, but there was a lot more crazy random **** in the movie than that...heh.

[DeluxeRed]

Nah, not the final straw...just that they didn't start there with even a photocopy of the original doc, and then it went downhill from there. Kinda like a crimetime show that still tries to "trace a call" instead of looking at the caller ID or phone bill. Fake drama.

Kinda like the Matrix movies in that, even though I'm a huge SF fan, it and they kinda turned to mush in my memory after repeated silliness and videogame chases or fight scenes. So, yeah, there were lotsa script and directorial flaws in Knowing, like there were lotsa fights in the Matrix movies, but most of them occurred after I tuned-out. And I really like good SF and thriller movies, I always go in hoping for a good time, I don't hold them to too high of a standard, and I really want them to succeed. Knowing was "OK", but Next was better, and the Matrix was ultimately dissapointing. IMO/YMMV, of course.

[SnoMan]

You know what'll help you with that?


....alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.