REVIEW: 'Knowing' pushes mystery, questions

"Knowing" is the sort of movie M. Night Shyamalan wishes he were still making.

Marketed as a supernatural sci-fi thriller, "Knowing" is something else entirely, a gorgeous, spooky, stylized doomsday enigma that utterly eclipses its largely hokey brethren.

Entrancing even when it is at its most outlandish, "Knowing" is a breathtaking metaphysical rumination that, in the final seconds, actually caused me to cry out loud in uninhibited glee.

In 1958, Miss Taylor's fifth-grade class was asked to draw pictures of how they envisioned the future would appear, as part of a dedication ceremony for their new elementary school. But one strange little girl decided, instead, to fill her paper with row upon row of apparently random numbers.

Fifty years later, a time capsule containing their artwork is unearthed and the girl's cryptic message finds its way into the hands of a young boy named Caleb (Chandler Canterbury). When Caleb takes home the piece of paper, his father John (Nicolas Cage), an MIT astrophysics professor rapidly drinking himself into oblivion after the recent death of his wife, discovers that the numbers aren't random at all, but are, in fact, an encoded message predicting with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years - and some have yet to occur.

As John begins to grasp that the 50-year-old piece of paper portends the apocalyptic end of the world, mysterious strangers begin haunting the woods around his house, confirming the fact that he and his son are somehow involved. Aided by the daughter and granddaughter (Rose Byrne and Lara Robinson) of the now-deceased prophetess, John attempts to use his knowledge to prevent the global catastrophe from taking place. But how can mere mortals stand in the way of predestination?

Nicolas Cage is not an actor. He is a personality black hole, an empty void in the shape of a human body. I went confidently into "Knowing" solely because of my faith in director Alex Proyas, who, in 1998, made one of my favorite films, the groundbreaking sci-fi "Dark City," which pioneered some ideas "The Matrix" later took credit for.

Here those ideas find expression in the tug of war between fate and determinism, the belief that our lives and our universe are ruled either by order or by randomness and coincidence. Is there meaning to our existence, or, as Cage's character suggests, does a certain bodily function "just happen"?

Proyas' "Knowing" is simultaneously unnerving and mystifying. It is a work of arresting craftsmanship and nightmarish imagery, complete with scenes of disquieting tragedy.

Dark and menacing, "Knowing" has one foot in horror and the other in science fiction, straddling a gulf running over with metaphysical language. How you walk away from "Knowing" depends largely on what you believe. Luckily, you don't have to believe what the film believes or endorse the mythology it appropriates to be blown away by the audaciousness of its vision.

If I have been vague in my assessment of the film thus far, it is intentional. I could and want to say so much more, but to do so would surely ruin the film's considerable impact.

DETAILS

KNOWING

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne
Director: Alex Proyas
Theaters: Hollywood, Tinseltown, Carmike, Chapel Hills, Cinemark
Rating: PG-13 (for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language)
Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

GRADE: A