KNOWING
RYAN: I was very excited for the new Nicolas Cage movie “Knowing,” and now I really enjoy knowing what this movie’s about.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ I’m a little surprised that I liked this movie. The trailer made it look like another goofy Nicolas Cage thriller with apocalyptic overtones, and given that I’m hardly a fan of his, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But it was actually kind of interesting – if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief a little bit.
RYAN: I’m so glad to hear you say that. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of Nic Cage so I didn’t think of this as another bad Nicolas Cage flick. I was able to enjoy it as a great science fiction movie. It’s certainly not the best film ever, but it’s a true sci-fi film and therefore totally up my alley.
CAROLINE: It starts out like a thriller or even a horror movie, which surprised me. I was actually a little creeped out; it almost reminded me of one of those Japanese horror movie remakes.
RYAN: Well, sci-fi goes hand-in-hand with the thriller and horror genres, and this one definitely has all of it. Much of it is just plain scary, but it also has one of my favorite sci-fi elements, which is that it raises questions about science and religion.
CAROLINE: It definitely skews more towards the scientific. Nicolas Cage plays an astrophysicist, and he has a colleague who’s kinda cute but has a bad lisp. At times, I thought the premise was a little silly; but if you let yourself get into it, it’s pretty cool. It kept my attention.
RYAN: There are some amazing special effects scenes which make this movie a must-see on the big screen if you’re so inclined. They’re kind of horrifying and even a little hard to watch, especially the one in New York City, which hit close to home for us.
CAROLINE: Yeah, that was terrifying. But the effects were great. I’d only seen this trailer a couple of times before I saw the movie, so I knew it was about numbers predicting events in the future, but I didn’t know how catastrophic it was going to be. It’s a little frightening in its “end of the world as we know it”-ness.
RYAN: The female lead, Rose Byrne, totally bugged me. She was hysterical and out of control for most of the time she was onscreen. Maybe there would be women who acted like that if this was really happening, but it irritated me. I wanted to smack her and be like, “Pull yourself together, honey.”
CAROLINE: Parts of the end were a little much for me. It’s over-the-top; but I’m also not a big sci-fi fan, so that’s part of it.
RYAN: I loved all that stuff, of course.
CAROLINE: I just still can’t believe how scary some of it was, especially at the beginning.
RYAN: Totally! There were several images in the movie that are potentially nightmare-inducing.
— BOTTOM LINE —
CAROLINE: Much to my relief, Nicolas Cage wasn’t as annoying as I feared he would be. He’s decent in this even though it’s sort of a typical Nicolas Cage thriller in the vein of most of the movies he’s been making lately. If you’re into this genre, you’ll enjoy it.
RYAN: This could have very easily been a Will Smith movie. It has that disaster movie/blockbuster feel.
CAROLINE: Let’s be honest, if it were Will Smith in the lead, it would have opened in November and been a huge holiday movie.
RYAN: For sure. I liked this movie a lot, even though it did have some slow moments. But ultimately, I was never bored. If you’re planning on seeing this movie, definitely catch it on the big screen because it won’t have the same impact on TV.
— RATING —
