M. Night Shyamalan plot without M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 6/10 (28 March 2009)

John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) is a divided man. The death of his wife has not only left him a single parent to their son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury), but also leaves him questioning fate as well. Is there a reason why things happen? Or, do things happen for no reason? As a MIT astrophysicist, the question isn't one of mere scientific thought. It is now very personal and one which John hides from by finding a bottle.
John Koestler, unfortunately, will have an answer to his question.
The Knowing is a movie about fate and whether or not we can change the future. The question is also whether we would want to know the future even if we couldn't change it. Fate is something that has been written about before and been the center of many movies in the past. The Knowing takes the question into standard direction but with some special effects that are horrifying. However, the problem with the Knowing isn't a predictable ending but the fact that it takes some rather strange events to get there.
The discovery of a piece of paper covered by a series of strange numbers suddenly captures John's attention. The numbers, and the paper itself, were taken from a time capsule from Caleb's school which was buried 50 years earlier. John discovers that the numbers are not random and in fact give the exact date, location, and casualties for a series of natural and man made disaster. While a scientist, John realizes that what he has is something that is unexplainable.
John learns that the numbers were written by a school girl named Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) in 1959. Lucinda is now dead, but her daughter Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) is still alive. John tracks her down only to discover that she is also a single parent but that, most of all, she wants nothing to do with the memory of her mother. During this time John has already witnessed a plane crash which the numbers predicted. By the time that Diana is able to speak to him about her mother, he also experiences a subway disaster that claims more lives in New York.
Caleb and Diana's daughter Abbey (Lara Robinson) discover a secret as well. The "whispers" that Abbey's grandmother Lucinda suffered from soon begin "speak" to them. John and Caleb have also noticed that strange men dressed in black have shown interest in them as well even though the men have always disappeared before they are confronted. John finds himself under more pressure as he attempt to solve the mystery of the numbers while protecting his son.
The Knowing is a movie that promises suspense but fails to deliver. Chandler Canterbury is underwhelming at playing a character who has been placed into the center of fate. He seems half asleep during most of the movie. John is the only character who is built up while Caleb, Diana, and Abbey are given almost secondary roles around his character. John's sister Grace (Nadia Townsend) only has a few lines which give little hint as to their relationship except that John and his father had a falling out. The characters of Grace and even Diana seem almost unnecessary. If the end result is predictable, which it is, then the Knowing should have chosen better characters.
The only thing that stands out in the Knowing is the final scenes in which the Earth is consumed in a solar flare. The whispering men, angels or aliens depending upon your view, rescue Caleb, Abbey, and other children (so we are hinted at) and remove them to a new world to start over. They knew that the world would be destroyed so they gave hints of the destruction to a certain few. Why those choose who they did is never answered but the guess is easy enough. Kids are pure and they have faith. They can believe in the future despite the unknown that surrounds it.
M. Night Shyamalan couldn't have come up with a better over the top moral ending. The problem for the Knowing is that even with him it is doubtful that it would have been a movie worth watching again.
6/10