Entertaining enough mystery/thriller

Rating: 7/10 (9 April 2009)

At the start of the movie, a mystery is established: what is going on with a strange primary school girl and the voices she seems to hear? And what is the meaning of a string of numbers she writes down on a sheet of paper to be buried in a time capsule for fifty years?
When the time capsule is unearthed fifty years later, and the strange girl's number string comes into the possession of John Koestler's son, Caleb, the mystery is about to resolved. John (played by Nicolas Cage) is a physics teacher who is very good at working out what numbers can mean.
There is a thriller aspect to this movie as Caleb (played by Chandler Canterbury) seems to be stalked by some strange, unidentified men. Who are these men? Is Caleb in danger?
"Knowing" combines certain pop/cultural strands of philosophy/beliefs in a surprising way...such that you wonder what adherents of either strand would make of this melding of belief systems.
Generally, I think that this movie is interesting and entertaining. Doubt that it would have much, if any, repeat viewing value, but as a 'popcorn' movie for a cinema complex, it works fine. There are plenty of exciting special effects (concerning disasters of various kinds), and an engaging premise that piques your curiosity.
The ending is sort of interesting too...there is an element of 'wish fulfilment' to it, perhaps appropriate to the times we live in.
If some of this movie's elements appeal to you, you may want to seek out "The incredible shrinking man", which does have some overlap with this movie (though it is slight).
Recentish 'blockbuster' movies which have repeat viewing value in my estimation include films like "Watchmen" and "Hancock", which I've reviewed here.