The Phantom Tollbooth - Movies Reviews Index


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Home Subscribe About Us Features News Album Reviews Movie Reviews Past Movies Movie Resources Concert Reviews Book Reviews Top 10 Contact Us	Knowing Stars: Nicholas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelssohn and Alan Hopgood Director: Alex Proyas Scriptwriters: Alex Proyas, Stuart Hazeldine, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Ryne Douglas Pearson and Richard Kelly Composer: Marco Beltrami Cinematography: Simon Duggan Summit Entertainment Rating: PG 13 for disaster scenes, disturbing images and language Running Length: 135 minutes Ah, the gift of prophecy. There are debates in the religious world as to whether this can be a good gift or a bad gift. King Saul sought such consul and it was deemed bad, yet centuries later, to foretell one's fate might be a good thing, to give that person time to repent their actions. In Knowing, there is a gift of prophecy that is bestowed on someone from someone other than in a religious sense. It gives one pause to reflect. Nicholas Cage, in another scholarly-action role, plays the part of a science professor, who has no faith due to the sudden death of his wife. He dotes on his son, Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) and is withdrawing from the world in an evening alcoholic haze. This is a situation ripe for change. The story begins 50 years ago when an elementary school class writes about life in the future and these pictures will be placed in a 50-year time capsule. One girl, Lucinda, goes into a trance and covers a page with numbers. Her teacher places the numbers into the capsule, but later, Lucinda disappears, only to be found in a closet scratching numbers onto a door. Fast-forward 50 years, and John (Nicholas Cage) is a college professor, living with his son, Caleb in a large house at the edge of a wooded area. The time capsule is open and Caleb gets the page of numbers, and along with this, begins to hear whispers in his head. We see that John is in a depressive state and estranged from his family and minister-father, after the death of John's wife in an accident. Eventually, John and his friend, Phil, (Ben Mendelsohn) figure out that the numbers on the paper refer to catastrophic disasters, down to the number of people killed and date. People will look at the weather in a different way after seeing this film. By this time, the men are down to the bottom of the page with disasters coming closer and closer together. What next? In the meantime, Caleb is being affected by the voices and people who are following him in a black car. John tries to find more numbers and a woman (Rose Byrne) and her daughter enter into the mix. Knowing presents a different viewpoint on an apocalyptic story. There are many "what if's" in the script and many decisions that were made, could have been made or never will be made. The question posed is this: is there an order in the universe, something predetermined, (fate) or does life fall into a random category (enough monkey's at typewriters through eons would type Shakespeare). Nicholas Cage solemnly goes through the role of a man who always thought one way and now is presented with something new. Large-eyed Chandler Canterbury. as Caleb, doesn't have much to do except stand and stare. Likewise, Rose Byrne, who plays the daughter of Lucinda like a statue. Given the premise of the film, there isn't that much to be happy about. Special effects are wonderfully done, especially an airplane crash that looks realistic and ditto for a subway crash that has the audience along for the ride. Marco Baltrami's soundtrack revolves around Beethoven and this adds a solemn thread through the film. Nicholas Cage has perfected the "I am lost" face of a person overwhelmed with information and happenings (reference National Treasure and Ghost Rider.) For this original screenplay, he is a good fit. Copyright 2009 Marie Asner