movie review by brandon: knowing

Knowing- ***

Nicolas Cage has recently become that go-to guy when you need a famous name for your crappy movie. And I fall for it every time, thinking THIS is going to be the one where Cage delivers one of his patented nutjob performances and I laugh and laugh at all the silliness onscreen.

So I've sat through garbage like The Wicker Man, Ghost Rider, Next, and Bangkok Dangerous just waiting for Cage to raise all holy hell. I've always been disappointed since Cage seems to be sleepwalking through all his recent films (although The Wicker Man came closest).

Now comes Knowing, which seems to promise more of the same. And it does…but at the same time, it doesn't. Like all movies nowadays, the preview gives away most of the special effects scenes, including the climax. Thanks guys!

So you know the story…a fifty year old time capsule is opened and Cage's son gets a sheet of numbers. Cage winds up, in record time, deciphering that the sequence gives the date, number of dead, and location of every major disaster. There are three left (all within convenient driving distance for Cage), and it appears time is running out.

Again, I don't get my Cage freak-out, but I have to say it's the closest he's come to acting in a while. He's still pretty sputtery and vacant, but not as bad as usual. The rest of the cast falls right in line, including Rose Byrne as the never-consummated love interest, and their kids. They say their lines okay enough, but you never get the impression they really care.

And oh man, those lines. There are some real clunkers here. Especially when it tries build on the strained relationship between Cage and his son. And the plot progression is awkward at best. Cage will struggle over some minor mystery, only to have it solved the next scene so we can have some cool CGI. And that end…Jesus, it's like someone pushed you off your life raft into a sea of cheese.

But what's surprising is the amount of good here. Director Alex Proyas, who seems to be relegated to doing crap like I, Robot now, isn't quite ready to churn out studio crud yet. He stages some scenes that are WAY better than they have any right to be. The big CGI plane crash from the preview? The scene in the film is stunning...my mouth literally fell open and I immediately rewound it to watch again.

In fact, all of the effects scenes are well done (well, maybe not the Michael Bayish climax), and even some of the quieter ones fare better than they should. A few more passes at the screenplay may have developed this into a lean, intelligent thriller. Instead we've got a fast food movie that surprises…like you head to Wendy's instead of McDonalds for dinner.

And who knows, maybe I was only surprised because I expected a giant armload of greasy shit movie. But a little good is better than none at all...

click here to view the trailer: