What a mess!

Rating: 4/10 (10 October 2019)

_Knowing_ is a confusing mashup of science fiction, astrophysics, eschatology, prophecy--and, oh yeah, aliens with blonde Guy Fieri haircuts wearing
trench coats.
It's also a disaster and an apocalypse film, although the special effects look like something out of a video game.
It borrows from _Independence Day_ , _ Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ and a dozen others.
Plus, we get to witness Nicholas Cage saying, "How am I supposed to stop the end of the world?" I'm sorry, but Cage just doesn't do serious well.
The ending, although intended to be hopeful, is inexplicable. The whole damn movie is inexplicable. What's with the black stones the aliens keep handing everybody? Why are the aliens affecting the brains of children but not adults? Why does virtually every male movie protagonist have to be a widower whose wife died in an accident? Why would a Hollywood studio spend $50 million on such a preposterous movie?
The answers are unknowable. Even more unknowable is why I watched it to the end. I guess I was somewhat entertained and wanted to give my brain a two hour break.
Roger Ebert gave this film 4 stars, the max. What was he thinking?