Knowing (4 Stars)

"Knowing" is a science-fiction thriller directed by Alex Proyas. The story starts on 13th October 1959. The children in a junior school are asked to draw pictures of what life will be like 50 years later. The pictures are put in a time capsule and buried in front of the school to be opened in 2009. As is to be expected, most of the children draw pictures of robots and space ships. Only one girl, Lucinda, does something different. She writes two pages of random numbers.

On 13th October 2009 the capsule is opened, and the pictures are handed out to the children at random. Caleb Koestler is given the paper with Lucinda's numbers, which is a disappointment, compared with the pretty pictures that his friends get. He gives the paper to his father, an astrophysics professor at M.I.T. John Koestler examines the numbers, and he realises that they're the dates and locations of every major disaster for the last 50 years, including the latitude and longitude. The last three numbers are in the future.

The following day there's a plane crash, with the exact number of deaths that was listed, so John decides to do his best to prevent the other two disasters. He tries to contact Lucinda, but she's been dead for years. Lucinda's daughter Diana helps him, because her mother had often talked about the future. Among other things, she'd predicted that Diana would die on 19th October 2009.

That plot would be enough to carry the story, but there's more. A group of thin men with blond hair are stalking Caleb. They whisper to him when no one else is listening. Were they attracted by the sheet of paper with the numbers? That's part of the mystery.

This is a very good film with a strong performance by Nicolas Cage as John Koestler. At the beginning of the film he holds a lecture on randomness and determinism. This is a theme that runs through the whole film. Was John pre-determined to be given the sheet of paper? That's difficult to accept, and the theme becomes even less feasible when Biblical prophecies are introduced into the film. There's too much fantasy for me to give "Knowing" a top rating.

Success Rate:  + 1.7

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de