Knowing

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Sorry if there is another thread on the Nic Cage/ Alex Proyas film... but I couldn't find it. Mods can merge this one with it.

what did you all think?

As someone who just finished a 400 page novel on the determinism / random chance debate this was a film I was interested in. it was good to see that Proyas (a great director) was interested in this theme to and seemed to really want to explore these themes and not "make another movie". However, the religious symbolism/ allegory was ridiculous (of course religion is ridiculous in any event) and the little pieces parts of the film didn't form a coherent whole.. like the black stones and what not. Proyas was able to make the Strangers (same aliens as Dark City?) nysterious so long as you dont think about where they went shopping for the latest fashion in trench coats.

A flawed movie with an ending i hated. I recommend this movie however over a host of other more typical Hollywood fare.

Thoughts?

 

[Guy Gardener]

I would only recommend this movie to people I hate.

Nicholas freaking out as he's discovering what is happenig is quite entertaining, but when he gets a clue about the new day dawning on them, it's just shit.

But still more poignant than The Day After Tomorrow.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I know a lot of people hate this movie, but I actually loved it, and this is coming from a Nicolas Cage hater.

First off, for the first hour, we get the typical Nicolas Cage/running around like a madman typical of his movies. Seriously. How was he not promptly arrested for basically phoning in a terrorist attack on a NYC block/subway? Even on the scene the cops didn't do anything to him.

What captivated me about this movie was the sheer creepiness. I didn't expect the angle that I won't go into for those who haven't seen it. But the moment Cage's kid is shown the prophecy of the burning Earth and the screaming animals, I was captivated. And with the airline crash and the knowing that the end of the world was eminent, and nothing could be done to prevent it was truly sweet.

Just about every movie, somebody discovers the world is going to end, and at the last second, the hero disarms whatever threat is coming their way. With this movie and the solar storms, there is nothing Cage can do to save the day, which is a much more realistic approach. Not to mention the ending scenes of the riots on Earth and the incoming solar flares are very well done. It's a beautiful and moving scene and I am very happy I rented this, as I was very hesitant to do so at first. Seeing as how it was a Nick Cage movie.

 

[Checkmate]

If it actually had a point, I might have liked it. But it doesn't. Not a single one. Nothing that happens in the movie matters whatsoever. Pure filler.

And the ending is just wretched. The movie should have been called Lord of the Flies 2: The Rapture. I pity every one of those kids the aliens "saved." I really do.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I wonder if they had the same plans for those kids as the aliens from Torchwood last month?

 

[Shurik]

I liked this movie, especially the ending. It's a realistic ending considering the nature of the disaster - nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, no secret government plan to hide people in caves, nothing. Everyone dies, except for the kids who were picked up by aliens.

 

[Spiderpope]

As i said in the other thread (there is one lurking around here somewhere), Knowing felt like two good movies thrown together, resulting in a pile of mediocrity.

The first half of the film was great, the disasters Cage witnessed were genuinely disturbing and the mystery of the code was interesting.

And the second half, realizing it was the end of the world, the idea of Aliens as angels carrying out the rapture, was a great idea.

But together the second half of the film rendered the first half completely pointless. Nothing shown or achieved in the first half of the film mattered at all. Now i'm dont need a happy ending to enjoy a film, so i would have been fine with it still being the end of the world. But given the nature of the first half of the film, the end of the world should have been something that could have been stopped. Because as it is, the code served absolutely no purpose. Cage had no chance of stopping it, nor did anyone else.

You cant even argue it was a warning or an attempt made by the aliens to garner credibility, because they didnt approach anyone in authority, and the kids they chose they were going to take regardless. So the code was utterly pointless.

And the ending, dumping ten year olds on a planet, while nice and symbolic, was also hindered by the fact it was attached to a film that for the first half had been fairly realistic and grounded in reality. Suddenly switching to a symbolic view just didnt mesh.
As it was, i was left thinking that the Aliens in Knowing were the most retarded we have seen since 'Signs'. So you have saved a bunch of 10 year olds, how the hell is that going to preserve anything? What if none of them ever joined the scouts? Who will know how to start a fire? Plus how much cultural knowledge does the average ten year old have? They may as well have cloned a bunch of people and shoved them onto the planet instead, it would have preserved just as much civilisation.

And finally, the Rabbits. Assuming the Aliens arent complete bastards, and havent dumped the kids on a Deathworld full of carniverous beasts, those rabbits arent going to have any natural predators. So within a couple of years they are going to have a massive, massive rabbit overpopulation problem. And on this world theres no myxomatosis to thin the numbers for them.