Should knowingly hate it but I don't

Rating: 7/10 (24 March 2009)

First off...Knowing is one of the most ambitious "big movies" I have seen in a long time. And the first hour of this film is a marvel. Probably one of the best set-ups of any thriller in recent memory. The third act has problems. At times making the third act of the last Indiana Jones movie seem tame. But the ending is very thought provoking. Maybe the most thought provoking ending in a recent sci-fi film since "A.I." and "The Fountain". Both flawed but daring movies.
Visually the film is mostly a marvel. Director Poyas has a firm grasp on powerful visual imagery used repeatedly as motif.
Bottom line: this daring film has an amazing amount of craftsmanship, decent enough acting, and very ambitious ideas
on the downside: "Knowing" suffers from enough plot holes to fill.. (insert clichéd line here), Cage has some "worst acting ever" moments. And the third act feels like it needed a rewrite or three hundred..
I should have hated it...but I can't. It's too ambitious a movie to easily dismiss. And since big budget spectacle movies are never ambitious and very rarely "thought provoking", I have to give "Knowing" it's props.
end kdc