So-so creepy thriller that has a good atmosphere that covers up its many other weaknesses

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2009)

When a time capsule is ceremonially dug up after 50 years in the ground, all schoolboy Caleb Koestler gets is a page with a list of number on it. He takes it home and by coincidence his grieving astrophysicist father Jon spots a pattern. He spends all night going through the numbers finding, among the meaningless numbers, dates and numbers that relate perfectly to events and how many people died in them. Almost unable to believe it himself, he is scorned by his friends until the next "event" happens just as the list of numbers predicted. John tries to prevent the next event from happening while his son appears to be somehow connected to the predictions.
Knowing got a fairly average critical response when it came out and it was sufficient to make me wait for the DVD to come out rather than shell out for a couple of people to see it on separate tickets. Perhaps this is why I was pleasantly surprised by the majority of the film. I'm not suggesting that the film is inherently a good one but it did do a good job of holding my attention for the most part. It managed this by producing a creepy air and tension throughout the telling that made me ignore the massive jumps the plot makes along the way. The effects help it because they are too "harsh" to be "fun" – blockbusters often show destruction but do it in a popcorn type way – here I winched while watching people burn to death screaming – not fun but it helps with the air of tension and drama. It cannot do enough though because the writing still is hard to swallow, with lots of convenience about the writing, from the obvious bigger picture stuff right down to niggles about why John appears to not read the remaining events until they become the next one to happen! The film tries to have this dumbness lead into a sort of religious conclusion that is religious but also not religious at the same time. It is a real love it or hate it ending and for me it was more towards the "hate it" end of the spectrum. Not because it was religious but more because it just seemed so easy and a bit daft. Also it put me off that it couldn't decide to be religious or not, preferring to try and cover all bases by suggesting god, aliens, other planets, heaven etc without making a decision – this is why I didn't really like the ending. Normally I would not have bothered with this because of Nic Cage but he is OK. He is overly earnest for the most part but the film needs him to do that, helping the viewer get into the tension of it all. Canterbury is not much cop but fills the role without being a sickly sweet kid, which I guess is a victory or sorts. Donnellan does reasonably well while Maloney's still "stranger" is effective in adding to the chill of it all.
Overall though it is still a daft supernatural film that relies heavily on the creepy air and urgency to cover up how weak the plot is. The ending will please as many as it annoys I guess and ultimately the film is only an OK one – not a good one.