Knowing It's A Dumb Movie

Rating: 2/10 (8 December 2009)

Knowing is the latest Nicolas Cage film that seems to be following a theme that started with his National Treasure movies - an educated teacher discovering a great secret before time runs out. Sort of 'The Da Vinci Code' light.
This time out Cage is an MIT professor whose son is given a sealed envelope recently recovered from a 30 year old time capsule at the boys school. Unlike a drawing of a spaceship or some other 50s inspired doodle his letter is a series of numbers written by a child with a troubled past.
What follows is Cage deciphering the number pattern (rather easily) and racing to avoid disaster, save lives and warn the rest of us idiots who just won't listen.
This journey is o.k. as long as you don't take a moment and question the premise. Basically, if this child could see the future why didn't she tell someone at the time instead of locking the information away for 30 years? Maybe so Nick Cage could discover it in the future and for fill his destiny. But then, if 'the strangers' gave the little girl 'the knowing' in the first place why didn't they just clue in Cage directly instead of being needlessly elaborate?
I mention destiny because the films final act is very much about this subject. There is a plan for us all, can't escape our fate, cosmic order in the universe and all that sort of thing. Comforting on one level perhaps but it doesn't give Cages character much to do except keep an appointment and hug it out with his estranged father the pastor.
If you dig Nicolas Cage this will make a decent rental, there are explosions and the film doesn't run to long. Like the National Treasure movies however it aspires for a depth that just isn't there, it wants to be an insightful thinking mans adventure but in the end is little more then a shallow idea produced only as well as it needs to be.