Start As You Mean To Go On

Rating: 6/10 (4 October 2009)

I recall a time when Nicolas Cage was a really decent actor. These days he seems to be cashing in on this frankly, bygone reputation. Knowing is one of those movies that starts really rather well, but ends up sitting on the fence. A religious nut's wet dream, it goes so far off it's original course that it forgets it's own identity altogether and literally makes it up as it goes along.
There are some nice pixelated effects during the film, but it isn't enough to carry it through on the strength of this. Again, while it does well at first, it is let down by someone at the studios giving carte blanche to the CGI guys, who really do push things so clearly beyond the capacity of their tools that a good deal of the effects look unreal and plastic. Less definitely would have been more here.
Nicolas Cage puts in yet another lacklustre performance here, content to do 'just enough' to warrant his over-inflated pay cheque, while the other actors and actresses are frankly average or at worst, forgettable. The soundtrack does enough as do the sound effects, but the real problem here is the script and screenplay - when it works, it works well and keeps the viewer intrigued, but when it doesn't it's almost unwatchable.
So, all in all, an average film that reminded me of so many mainstream movies of late. It works for a while, but when the initial intrigue has faded and deeper questions are being asked, it simply refuses to give a straight answer and reverts to type. I'm rating Knowing at 6.0 out of 10, because it genuinely does start well - just turn it off after about an hour and you wont be disappointed. Shame.