DeYoung On DVD: Want To Know About Knowing?

Nicolas Cage knows about national treasure hunting. Nicolas Cage knows about being gone in 60 Seconds. Nicolas Cage knows about ghost riding on a motorcycle with a flaming skull’s head. Now, Nicolas Cage knows about Knowing, specifically knowing when the world is going to end in the suspenseful sci-fi thriller, Knowing now on DVD. Cage plays Professor John Koestler, an astrophysics professor who deciphers a code from a time capsule, a code that represented dates of disasters, death tolls and locations for the last fifty years, and also suggests that the fun has only just begun. With three more future disasters predicted from the codes, Koestler gets the adverse aid of Diana Wayland, the daughter of the deceased prophetic writer of the codes (played by 28 Weeks Later actress, Rose Byrne). It’s a race against time for Koestler and company to understand the message and his family’s involvement before it’s too late.

Seeing this movie was almost like trying to decipher the code that Cage’s character was trying to figure out. However, the pieces finally come together in the end, but the ride to get there was an edge of your seat journey with each scene as gripping as the next. The movie had such intensity that if you took your eyes off the screen, or in this case, television, you might just miss something that is vital to the story. What makes it more compelling is that you don’t want to take your eyes off the screen. The movie draws you in and you become emotionally attached to what is happening. To me, that is good storytelling. What is also good about Knowing is that the movie is so thought provoking that it sparks heavy discussion and debate. Without giving away the ending, there are so many interpretations and conclusions on how you view the essence of the movie, you have to judge for yourself on what you get out of it. However, there were aspects that didn’t quite make sense, but not enough to lose the enjoyment of the film.

As for performances, this was not Nicolas Cage’s “A “ game flick. To me, his character was very one dimensional, and he played it that way. Even in the scene where he was teaching his class, his stretch for emotion wasn’t much of a stretch at all. He basically kept the somber, doomsday demeanor throughout the whole film even before he found the codes. For an actor to carry a movie in a one dimensional performance, it is not necessarily a good thing even if he is trying to keep with the tone of the movie. Who was exceptional was Rose Byrne, who changed it up a bit. Her scenes went from somber to hysteria to whatever the scene needed, and yet she was able to keep with the ambience of the film.

Knowing is a very deep movie, but not too deep that it’s confusing. The main thing to keep in mind as you watch this film is to be patient. At times, the pace of the movie is slow, but the slowness helps in the suspense. I guarantee you, once you get done watching Knowing, discussion will ensue and questions will be answered, or will they? On a grading scale, I give Knowing a B+. That’s a Wrap, and I know it.