Knowing

Note: as it is my style, it should be noted that my comments usually throughly discuss imagery, plot points, twists, and the like. There may be spoilers.

Austrailian filmmaker Alex Proyas is one of my favorite directors. I cherish his Dark City greatly (Ya know, I need to write something about it...). I am still looking for a copy of his first film Spirits of the Air, Gremlins of the Clouds in any format. And yes, I mean ANY format: I'd take a roughed up VHS at this point. Don't know either of those films? Not surprising. Dark City wasn't a hit financially and--obviously--Spirits probably isn't sitting on a Blockbuster shelf. However, Proyas did direct The Crow and I haven't met many people with bad things to say about that one. His previous effort I, Robot saw commercial success and re-affirmed that the Converse sneaker is the ultimate footwear. At this point I'm wondering why this post isn't called "All About Alex Proyas". Let me get to the point.

Knowing is his latest film and it seems like just another Nicholas Cage star vehicle. Well, that's right and wrong. The film opens at an elementary school in 1959. We meet Lucidna, a strange young girl who apparently hears voices. In the next scene, students draw their visions of the future to be placed into a time capsule and reopened 50 years later by a group of students. We come to find the tortured young girl has written on a piece of paper the date, death toll, and location of every major disaster to come. In the present day, we meet astrophysicist John Koestler: our hero. He and his obviously intelligent son enjoy an evening of stargazing. Caleb gets Lucidna's paper and sneaks it home where his father discovers it and becomes tangled up in the world's destiny.

The movie certainly has plenty of your typical thriller-type moments and dialogue. But behind the hum-drum, the visionary Proyas is at work. Consider a scene from the trailer: a jumbo-jet crashes violently near our hero. In one long, continous take John approaches the wreckage and attempts to save a few survivors. It's a moment that can't really be described easily. The unbroken shot recreates deftly the intensity of such a dire situation. You feel the urgency. There isn't any relief. The final scene of the film are companion pieces of destruction and new life. They also can only be experienced.

The film has most everything a decent thriller should, including the key elements tension and mystery. Unfortunetly, it doesn't rise above most genre cliches. You've heard the dialogue before; you've seen some of the situations before. However, it is commendable for pushing some boundries and possesses an obvious wit. It plays on contemporary paranoia of terrorist attacks and plots in such a fascinating way. We are to believe that a terrorist bombing, or the like, will probably occur in New York City. The film displays newscasts that claim the terror threat level is elevated and John even pinpoints the location of the eventual destruction at the corner of a New York street. One chaotic chase scene later, our expectations are completely defeated. No terror bombing occurs and the suspicious man at the subway was simply a petty shoplifter.

Another one of my favorite parts lies near the end of the film. Caleb and the granddaughter of the opening scenes prophet, Lucidna, carry white rabbits given to them by the strange "whisper men" that appear throughout the movie. The rabbits may represent a wish of good luck on the pair's new beginning. Or maybe they represent the uncertainity of traveling down the rabbit hole, into the unknown. I'd like to think that the rabbits represent both. Or perhaps Proyas just likes white rabbits. (**)