| Audience: | Mature High Schooler |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language |
| Profanity: | A few bad words |
| Nudity/Sex: | One brief crude reference |
| Alcohol/Drugs: | Drinking, including drinking to deal with stress |
| Violence/Scariness: | Very intense and graphic violence including disturbing images of catastrophic natural and other disasters |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Movie Release Date: | March 20, 2009 |
| DVD Release Date: | July 7, 2009 |
When MIT astrophysics professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage in one-note mournful mode) looks distracted and thoughtful as he invites his class to debate randomness vs. determinism, you don't have to be much of a determinist to figure out that as inevitably as night follows day, John is about to be hit with some Evidence of a Greater Plan. This isn't determinism, the idea that events that may seem random are a part of some greater pattern. This is just predictable hogwash, and it gets even hogwashier until it arrives at an ending that manages to be inevitable, uninspired, and preposterous.
John's son Caleb (a sincere Chandler Canterbury) attends a school that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The ceremony involves opening a time capsule filled with drawings from children on its opening day. But the envelope Caleb is given to open does not have a drawing of spaceships. It has an apparently random string of numbers. John notices that one string is 09/11/2001 and the number killed that day. A night-long Google search later, he has assigned many of the numbers to known disasters -- and figured out that the final three dates are still in the future.
And then this becomes just another big, dumb, loud, effects-driven movie. Forget determinism; if one character behaved in a rational manner, the movie would be 20 minutes long. Three dates in the future? That of course means that the first one is there to prove the theory. Next, John figures out that the next one will happen in NY. Instead of staying in Cambridge, he heads for the location so that he -- and the audience -- can be in the middle of a technically impressive but narratively brutal catastrophe. And then we are all headed for the big finish (and I mean FINISH), but first there is a lot of completely pointless racing around in a fruitless attempt to build some tension.
The movie sinks from dumb to offensive first when it devotes so much loving detail to the graphic, even clinical depiction of pointless calamity and second when it ultimately and cynically appropriates signifiers of religious import in an attempt to justify itself. Professor Koestler, in a world of rational determinism, this movie would never have gotten the green light. Case closed.
Parents should know that this movie has brief bad language, drinking, including drinking to deal with stress, extremely graphic and disturbing scenes of massive and catastrophic accidents and natural disasters
Family discussion: What would you do if you knew when disasters would occur? What would you put into a time capsule? Which do you believe in, random accidents or patterns and determinism and why?
If you like this, try: "Signs," "The Sixth Sense," and "The Mothman Prophecies"
Those who are familiar with my "Gothika Rule" know what to do. Those who want to know more can email me at moviemom@moviemom.com And those who don't mind spoilers and want another take on the film from a critic who liked it should read Roger Ebert's comments on "Knowing" on his blog.
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I just watched this movie with a friend. First thought of the movie... Awesome. Obviously I signed online to see if others were somewhat as confused as I am/was. My friend thinks the figures were angels, because they had what appeared to be wings... I disagree completely regardless whether or not they were wings or just the ora of the figure, I came to the conclusion they were aliens. For a few reasons. 1. They opened the sky with a huge space ship, and later showed multiple space ships dropping kids off all over the "new world" 2. It is because of my religion I cannot accept the fact that the only people to be spared would be the children, it is all believers.
Maybe it is because of this reason they created the movie this way to get people talking and have somewhat controversy over it.
It is my opinion that people are upset, including myself because of the hints of religion throughout the movie only to find out that it was aliens.
Ironically enough though before the movie started my friend and I were talking about how we never saw a movie where the earth actually ends, so I thought that was pretty cool.
Thanks, Matt -- I love your take on the film and hope you will come back and let me know what you think about the other movies you see.
Good movie, are the aliens called the Davidians? Christians or Scientologists, i cannot remember.
Man I was really dissapointed I really want nicolis cage to survive and where the lil black kid at u can't just make a new world full of white people and what about indian and chinesse and would there kid have to have sex with each other to repopulate
I had all of the same concerns, Dread! Thanks for writing.
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