Knowing

Knowing is a film that borrows liberally from a number of other films or genres. It takes a little from the National Treasure series in that Nicolas Cage is back deciphering codes, with some Close Encounters thrown in for good measure. Take some religion and add some environmental concern and Knowing is what you get. It sounds like a mess, but actually it works, at least at the "popcorn" film level. The film begins in 1959 where troubled elementary school student Lucinda Embry is working on her class assignment to draw a vision of the future as she thinks it might be 50 years later. Instead of a drawing, she furiously writes down a series of numbers, with no apparent meaning. Obviously she wasn't invited to many birthday parties. Fifty years later young Caleb Koestler, son of MIT professor John Koestler, is selected to open Lucinda's envelope. John Koestler, played by Mr. Cage, takes a closer look at the numbers and quickly realizes that the series has accurately predicted numerous natural disasters, with possibly some more to come. He seeks out Lucinda's grown daughter at a local museum to learn more about her mom, chats her up, and with minutes is sharing a table with her. The daughter, played by Rose Byrne is obviously a lot more trusting than most big city single moms with a young daughter in tow. Mr. Cage eventually learns more, as we do, and at least for me, it was worth it.

Rating - 3 Stars