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Faith is subjective. One person's faith is someone
else's superstition. Is the world filled with random chance
or is everything predetermined? Alex Proyas' underrated
film "Knowing" tackels a lot of difficult questions related
to themes and questions in a creepy science fiction disaster
movie.The film spirals out of Proyas' control at the conclusion
but until then it's a riveting thriller with a surprisingly
religious subtext (if you choose to see it that way)that
plays into the themes of the film. While those who aren't
religious may be put off by the film, I'd suggest approaching
it with an open mind as the film is open to interepretion
(listen to Proyas' commentary track and don't be too literal
minded and you may enjoy the film). The ex machina deus
conculsion may be a bit hard for many people to swallow
but Proyas does set it up fairly clearly. ***
SPOILERS:
John Koestler (Nicholas Cage)believes that life consists
of random events strung together until his son Caleb receives
a note from a time capsule buried fifty years before suggesting
otherwise. It seems that the list made up of a series of
what appear to be random numbers aren't random at all but
predict a series of disasters. Koestler becomes obsessed
with trying to try and prevent these tragic things from
occurring but ends up uncovering a much scarier truth. "Knowing"
got slammed by critics when it was released. One of the
few film critics to pick up on the film was Roger Ebert
and his observations on the film are on target. Maybe the
timing of the film impacted the critical reception of the
film or they saw a different film from what I saw; I found
Alex Proyas' brilliantly realized film a fascinating examination
of faith and the trials we face each and every day. The
film has two briliant set pieces but that are visuall stunning.
Whether or not you buy into the story isn't important--just
go along for the ride if you don't. "Knowing" may be a popcorn
thriller but it's one that deals with some important questions.
It may come up short with its explaination and resolution
but you have to give director Proyas props for trying.
END OF SPOILERS: ***
The last third of the film spirals out of Proyas control
but everything that he sets up still manages to pay off.
Whether or not you buy into the ending of the film (which
admittedly for some will appear to come out of left field
much as the ending for "The Prestige" seemed to as well),
the shift in tone and genre will depend on if Proyas has
sucked you into the story. ---
Image & Sound:
The Blu-ray looks marvelous with a richly detailed image.
The first film that Proyas has shot on digital video the
film has rich inky blacks and the autumn color scheme works
for the film. It's accurately captured well here. The DVD
probably looks quite good as well but I haven't seen. ***
Audio sounds superb with a very active 5.1 Lossless
DTS soundtrack nicely highlight the wonderfully suspenseful
music by Marco Beltran. --
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