Release Date: March 20, 2009

(out of 4)

"Knowing" is a triumph in special effects and camera angles and a letdown in story plausibility. But does a science fiction film of such a deliberately preposterous concept have to contain wall-to-wall plausibility? The director is Alex Proyas who made the best science-fiction of the last 25 years (“Dark City”) and also made a dumbed-down Will Smith action vehicle that at least had stellar production values (“I Robot”). What he works with here is a story as naïve but as intriguing as a classic “Twilight Zone” episode that happens to contain awesome sequences of destruction.

The pre-credit sequence, which is absent of any big unleashed special effects, is among the best parts of the movie because it works most effectively as unbridled spookiness. It's 1959, and an elementary school class is assigned to draw pictures of what they imagine the future will look life in 50 years forward. The drawings will be enclosed in a time capsule to be opened in 2009. A haunted little girl composes a sheet of endless and seemingly random numbers in her contribution as if she is possessed by the supernatural beyond. She goes missing on school grounds following the burial ceremony of the time capsule and when she is found her reappearance provokes repulsion.

In present day Nicolas Cage stars as John Koestler, a professor of astrophysics at MIT. He moderates an in-class discussion on whether the universe is deterministic or random. The film, more concerned than just being an action flick, delves into whether a man like Koestler can make a difference in altering destiny. If you disregard the story for a moment you can muse on how Cage seems obsessed in the second half of his career with channeling the tics and mannerisms of the late Jimmy Stewart. If you think about it, Cage has most closely impersonated Jimmy Stewart before in such films as “The Family Man,” “City of Angels” and probably never more than in the mildly old-fashioned romantic comedy “It Could Happen To You.” If Cage is going to continue channeling the aw-shucks ordinary man quality of Jimmy Stewart it'd be nice if he found a script on par with “Vertigo.” Not likely to happen but it is wishful thinking.

Anyway, the film returns to the same elementary school where the story began. At the reopening of the time capsule the drawings, sealed in envelopes, are parceled out to current students. Koestler's son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) receives the odd diagram of numbers that when closely inspected contains an eerie pattern. The numbers formulate a catalog of all major disasters that have occurred in the last 50 years that list date, death tally, latitude and longitude. Three future disasters are prophesized. Koestler's closest colleague (Ben Mendelsohn) thinks he's off his rocker until the first disaster proves true.

One of the prophecies is a forecast of the end of the world. Koestler deciphers an apocalyptic theory that seems to be a reasonable threat. Of all end-of-the-world scenarios in the annals of science-fiction, “Knowing” contains one of the most clever gimmicks of them all which is better off unrevealed in this review. Meanwhile, Caleb is visited by ominous strangers in black coat attire that undeniably recalls a certain previous Proyas film. These supernatural-assisted appearances feel tacked-on as if the film was desperate to stack on another layer of menace. And lastly, there is a late entrance introduction of two characters, Diana (Rose Byrne) and her daughter whom unwittingly hold the clue to the outcome of Earth's destiny.

The set-up of the movie has a better grip of tension than the falling action, and the suspense wanes as soon as the script begins to depend on too many conveniences. But the disaster blow-ups are really something special with camera angles that I've never seen used before like this in smash-up collision and firestorm sequences. And the final scenes of the film Proyas delivers a scorcher of astonishing visual power. Although I wished we didn't have to endure a shot of Cage driving uncontested through streets that would be undoubtedly be riddled by roadblocks. If you hate You- Gotta -Be-Kidding-Me! moments in movies than “Knowing” might be too tough for you to swallow.

“Knowing” is a question mark for ordinary audiences – some will jump aboard and others will likely balk at its preposterousness. But then there is a more specific audience out there who know who the director is. You Alex Proyas admirers out there know who you are. You've seen “Dark City” and you've seen “I, Robot” and you share a resembled agreement with me that one is a masterpiece and the other is far, far from. What you need to know about “Knowing” is that it falls somewhere in the middle of those two.