Knowing: Grandeur That Transcends the Scope of its Own Story

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2009)

Spoilers
I went to Knowing for two reasons. My man Ebert, who I've only disagreed with three times to date, gave it 4 stars. Second, any movie with enough money poured into it is bound to have some redeeming qualities.
But keeping the bad buzz in mind, I went with low expectations.
It started off decently enough. Intrigue was essential in building interest. Still, I'd heard it went downhill, especially in the third act, so I didn't get my hopes up.
Enter the first catastrophe. Holy hell. The CGI was noticeable, but I didn't care. The screeching hurt my ears, but it was warranted and in my opinion worth it for the effect. The plane careens into the highway, skidding along the ground and bursting into flames. My heart sank; I've studied numerous aviation disasters, but none, even as depicted in other movies, even actual footage, felt as close or as real as this. In the same shot, the camera chases behind a distraught Nicolas Cage racing through the wreckage in a meager attempt to help any survivors he comes across. It was downright chilling.
Now that we know there's credence to the prophecy, the movie takes on an almost sickening atmosphere of tension. What will the next disaster involve? How many lives will be lost? How horrific will it be? Cage attempts to stop it, but in the end he is unable.
The last catastrophe looms. It's different. No location is given; no number of deaths told. Slowly but surely our suspicions are confirmed - the apocalypse is upon us. I'll get back to this.
Throughout the movie we see more and more of some seriously creepy albino guys. They seem almost supernatural, omniscient, uncaring. They are an element of the plot that comes into play towards the end of the film, and be warned I'm going to go into an in-depth analysis of this plot point, so take heed if you haven't seen the film.
They are angels. They guide the film's characters towards their respective destinies. When the world is on the brink of the end, they shepherd the movie's two children into an escape pod of sorts, an "ark"; watching Cage reluctantly accept his son's fate is gut wrenching and touching. The children are each holding a white rabbit. I'm not sure if there's a Biblical connotation there, but at the very least I took it to mean innocence and fertility. The end of the world is vastly significant in its own right, a big enough event to really invest your emotions into, but when you throw into the mix the theological overtones present at this point in the film, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed.
I think this might be where the movie loses people. I admit I'm Christian, so maybe the movie held some inherent significance for me that it doesn't for others. That, and I had heard something about angels before going in, and I wonder if some who hadn't felt the religious development was out of left field. If God's not your thing, power to you. But maybe the movie can still be enjoyed with a grain of salt; it is fiction, after all.
Cue the end of the world. Cage has gone to his parents' home to be with his sister, mother, and father who he'd recently reconciled with. The apocalypse is upon us. Fires burn in the city, panicked citizens are looting. I'd imagine this wouldn't be too far off from what it would look like if the world really was about to end. The cause of humanity's demise is explained on a scientific basis in the film - it doesn't just randomly happen - though I'm unsure of the scientific validity of the explanation. To the best of my knowledge the cause is next to impossible for the foreseeable future, but it was nice to know that it was at least somewhat grounded in scientific reality.
The visuals are stunning; fire engulfs the globe. It almost looks as if a large nuke has been detonated in semi-slow motion in New York City, one where the fireball doesn't seem to have any intention of stopping. A shot of the globe shows what appeared to be a hauntingly beautiful visual of the atmosphere leaving the planet as it turns to rubble. Everything is obliterated.
And then, in one of the most grand examples of a story coming full circle I've ever seen, the children are dropped off, with a number of other arks seen landing in the distance, on a picturesque, unspoiled, virgin world to start again; they are in the Garden of Eden.