Mike does Knowing

“The numbers are the key to everything.”

The Scoop: 2009, PG-13 Directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury and Rose Byrne

Summary Capsule: MIT professor happens upon a sheet of numbers that predicts major disasters, including possibly the End of the World.

Mike’s Rating: 136545068461035135164846413540468431640684168406940613135484684

Mike’s Review: Let’s face it: sometimes this world is a downright nasty place to live. Mass murder, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, reality shows– it’s pretty scary out there. But imagine for a second that you discover a way to predict the date and location of aforementioned disasters. Do you try to stop them from happening, or do you put as much distance between yourself and the prophesized calamity as humanly possible? Well if you’re Nicolas Cage, lets just say the whole living thing is not extremely high on your priorities list.

Cage plays John Koestler, an astrophysics professor at MIT with a serious chip on his shoulder as far as predestination is concerned after the death of his wife in a fire. Things get weird when his “stuff just happens” philosophy is challenged by, of all things, a piece of paper; said paper containing a series of numbers written by a creepy-eyed urchin some fifty years ago, pulled out of an elementary school time capsule and handed to Koestler’s son Caleb. By accident he starts to take a close look at the numbers and finds that they correspond to the date, location, and number of dead for every major disaster on Earth for the past fifty years, with three more left to go on the list. From there the clock is ticking as Koestler, with increasing desperation, tries to unravel and solve the mysteries of the numbers,  prevent the foretold disasters from occuring and protect his son from the shadowy figures who have begun to stalk the woods near his house.

As the director of The Crow, Dark City and I, Robot, Alex Proyas is one of my top five all time favorite directors, and he doesn’t disappoint here. The man knows how to tell a story, even one that takes on heavy metaphysical themes including (in the case of this film), a deterministic universe versus a random one, without talking down to the audience. The movie has a genuine feel of dread as events unfold, sometimes with frighteningly graphic consequences, and it’s refreshing to see a film not shying away from the realities of loss of life in a tragedy. More than once I was surprised, not by the story itself (which was admittedly kind of predictable), but by the choices Proyas made in unveiling that story and letting it play out. At times the plot seems just a little too tidy, with some pretty amazing coincidences, but depending on how accepting you are of the predestination aspects of the plot this may or may not hinder your enjoyment of the film. It didn’t hinder mine. There’s some emotional resonance as well, as we follow Cage’s character through an evolution of a disbelieving pastor’s kid, to a man who’s willing to go on faith alone.

Ultimately the best thing I can say about this film is that it stuck with me. The ideas put forth and the plotlines that provided them a backdrop continue to ruminate in my head even a few days after seeing the film. The film makes you think, which is rare these days. This is what we need more of; The kind of science fiction/ fantasy story that would be perfectly at home as an extended episode of the Twilight Zone–entertaining us with wondrous sights in an impossible universe while making us ponder the nature of our own.

"Cool! This is just like LOST!"

Didja Notice?

• You know something bad is going to kill a lot of people and you go the exact location this is supposed to take place? I appreciate you want to stop the loss of life, but you’ve got a kid, man.
• Lucinda and Abby are played by the same little girl (Lara Robinson)?
• WILHELM SCREAM! heard during the subway crash.
• The last line of the movie is “I know”.

Intermission!

• This is the second film featuring Rose Byrne to revolve around the possible end of the world. The first was Sunshine.
• Richard Kelly was originally set to write and direct the project.
• The school in the movie is William Dawes Elementary. William Dawes was one of the riders who, like Paul Revere, warned the minutemen that British troops were coming. Just like a child at his namesake school was trying to warn people what was coming.
• The text of the time capsule plaque reads, “We, the 3rd grade class of William Dawes Elementary School, in the year of 1959 A.D., hereby commit our visions of the future as a token of hope and friendship toward our successors, the class of 2009 A.D.”

Groovy Quotes

Caleb Koestler: I can’t consume that. I’ve decided to become a vegetarian.
John Koestler: Well, when were you planning on telling the guy who buys the groceries around here?
Caleb Koestler: Are you deaf? I just told you now, Dad.

Stacey: Well, what do you believe?
John Koestler: I think $#!% just happens. But that’s me.

John Koestler: Look, I’m not saying that eighty-one people are going to die tomorrow. I just want to know why *THIS* (points to numbers list) SAYS THEY ARE!

John Koestler: The numbers are the key to everything.

If You Liked This Movie, Try These:

• Dark City
• Timescape
• Miracle Mile