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Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelsohn, Lara Robinson ... see more see more... , Nadia Townsend , Danielle Carter , Alethea McGrath , Alan Hopgood , D.G. Maloney , Adrienne Pickering , Joshua Long Gone , David Lennie , Tamara Donnellan , Travis Waite , Gareth Yuen , Lesley-Anne Mitchell , Liam Hemsworth , Raymond Anthony Thomas , Carolyn Shakespeare-Allen , Joanna Hunt-Prokhovnik , Jake Bradley , Jean-Michael Tan , Rody Claude , Nathaniel Kiwi , Blair Venn , Alyssa McClelland , Ra Chapman , Benita Collings , Verity Charlton , Terry Camilleri , Angie Diaz

A time capsule containing a cryptic message about the coming apocalypse sends a concerned father on a race to prevent the horrific events from unfolding as predicted in this sci-fi thriller directed b... read more read more...y Alex Proyas (Dark City) and starring Nicolas Cage. 1958: As the dedication ceremony for a newly constructed elementary school gets under way, a time capsule containing student drawings of the future is buried on the grounds and scheduled to be unearthed on the school's 50th anniversary. Instead of submitting a drawing, however, one little girl scribbles a series of seemingly random numbers on her paper before it is buried. Fifty years later, the time capsule is unearthed for a new generation of students to examine. Young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury) is one of those students. The mysterious sequence of numbers falling into his possession, Caleb takes the paper to his father, Professor John Koestler (Cage), for examination. Studying the numbers, Professor Koestler soon discovers that they aren't random at all, but an encoded message containing the precise dates, death tolls, and coordinates of every major disaster since the time capsule was buried. Not only that, but the document also indicates that there will be three more such events, the last of which indicates a doomsday scenario that appears directly tied to Professor Koestler and Caleb. His desperate plea to authorities falling on deaf ears, Professor Koestler realizes that his only hope for preventing more lives from being lost is to take personal action. Though the author of the prophecies is no longer living, Professor Koestler is eventually able to track down her daughter Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne), and granddaughter Abby, who reluctantly agree to aid in the investigation. As the final date on the list draws near, Professor Koestler enters into a frantic race against time to prevent destruction on a global scale, in the process realizing that in order to save millions of lives, he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

50% liked it

397,238 ratings

Critics

34% liked it

176 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 1 min.

Directed by: Alex Proyas

Release Date: March 20, 2009

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DVD Release Date: July 7, 2009

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Stats: 38,127 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (38,127)

  • jmanard52
    August 30, 2009
    jmanard52
    Im not sure what to say here. I was very disappointed at the end. I just felt that it got kinda preachy and I don't know what else to say. Had me for a while and than just fell at the end for me.
  • 76Majikat
    March 26, 2012
    76Majikat
    Surprisingly enjoyable (coming from a usual non-Sci-fi person). The film got better as it went on and some of the effects were pretty impressive.
  • phubbs1
    February 9, 2012
    phubbs1
    Now this was a good surprise, I was expecting a really lame Cage flick like we've been used to recently but I really enjoyed this :) The film feels very much like the next M. Night Shyamalan offering to be honest, the same kind of spooky plot with afew little twists that do make ... read morethings more interesting, the main for me being the ending which is actually pretty good and shows Cage NOT being the world saving hero amazingly (as that is what you come to expect).

    Its a decent story all round which is easy to follow and very gripping, ranges from a kind of ghost story to hard hitting sci-fi as you finally see what happens. The acting is good from all, Cage being sensible and not going over the top with hair or movement haha but the special effects are really decent, the major events that take place during the film are quite brilliant looking and brutally realistic in afew places, make yr hairs stand on end I tell ya.

    Really decent film which just gets better as it reaches its climax, in my opinion, and from outta nowhere too as I hadn't heard of this until it was released, thumbs up (shame about the film title).
  • ironclad1609
    November 25, 2011
    ironclad1609
    It's hard to rate a film that starts out so interestingly and is really well done for the majority of its running time, but then decides to take a direction it can't handle just to basically screw everything up in the end. The premise is really enthralling: a school time capsule ... read morefrom the 50s reveals numbers predicting every major catastrophe of the last decades, with three numbers remaining...
    Nice Cage does well as father who's son seems to have a special connection to what's going on. The first of the last bunch of disasters, a plane crash, is wonderfully disturbing and offers excellent special effects. Sadly, the film loses his direction shortly after that, adding Christian motifs and a really silly solution, that even may have worked if handled differently. As it is, the ultimate chaos among humanity is filmed really well, but the final shot is cheesy beyond belief. And what the hell is it with the bunnies?
    Pity about the wasted second half, even if the majority of the film remains entertaining and well done.
  • ScoopOnline
    November 23, 2011
    ScoopOnline
    Well Mr.Cage it is time to quit. I expected a disaster, but it was entertaining. Well a tiny bit of lack in acting and plot. It is such a shame Hollywood running out of Ideas.
  • DreamExtractor
    June 5, 2011
    DreamExtractor
    Knowing was a horrible movie, mostly because terrible stuff happened in it. First of all, Nicolas Cage was pretty good in this, espically if you compare it to other movies that hes done lately, but it still felt flat. The concept was cool, but the story was cliche and boring at... read more many times. It had also many stupid and weird moments. The cinematography in this movie is gorcious. The effects were really well doned also, even if it had some sketchy moments. Overall this movie was bad, but had strongpoints.
  • fb100001048934982
    May 1, 2011
    fb100001048934982
    Although very visually striking, a bad plot and an even worse ending spoil any entertainment the film could've provided. A few disastrous scenes (the plane and a train) is the only reason to see this movie.
  • rezpatriot
    March 27, 2011
    rezpatriot
    Nic Cage loves to be set on fire. His role in the film is just as successful as many of his films you have seen him in recently and the films story was not what I expected at all, but it was not hard to follow the predictable but enjoyable storyline. The special effects were inve... read morentive and looked really awesome.
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    March 14, 2011
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    Seeing this again I hated it even more. This movie is just stupid. Its also really boring. The movie has an interesting plot though. The movie is just silly and boring and too long.
    Grade: C-
  • SirPant
    January 24, 2011
    SirPant
    I defy anyone not to slap their foreheads and shout doh when reaching the conclusion of this film. Alex Proyas is better than this isn't he? The Crow and Dark City are beautiful films, I, Robot isn't great but visually it's good, style-wise, he's a great director! In Knowing, onl... read morey the Special effects impress, and even then they either go on too long (quite gratuitously so) or are completely ridiculous it's hard to appreciate them. For every moment you get goosebumps, there are five moments you want to throw something at the screen in frustration. I think the story could have been great, maybe, but the execution of this film destroys anything of worth pretty quickly. I've also come to the conclusion that Nic Cage is only good when he is led by a great director, something that doesn't happen very often these days!

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Critic Reviews

Ben Lyons
March 23, 2009
Ben Lyons, At the Movies

There's nothing really special about this film, other than an interesting premise. Full Review

Ben Mankiewicz
March 23, 2009
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies

Things started to fall off of the deep end very quickly. Full Review

Stephanie Zacharek
March 23, 2009
Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

If Alex Proyas' Knowing were reasonably entertaining -- instead of just dour, pointless and tedious -- it would be a camp classic. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
March 23, 2009
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

If you want to know how inept the movie is...well, it's so inept that you may wish you were watching an M. Night Shyamalan version of the very same premise. Full Review

Kyle Smith
March 20, 2009
Kyle Smith, New York Post

The movie begins shameless, grows stupid and winds up silly. If the ending had less of the air of a crackpot religion and more pretentiousness, you could almost call it Shyamalanish. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 20, 2009
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

An uneasy blending of sci-fi and religion, fate and faith -- the same mish-mash that has bedeviled most of M. Night Shyamalan's recent movies, and leaves this film leaden with self-importance. Full Review

Peter Hartlaub
March 20, 2009
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

It's pretty much impossible to take the rest of a film seriously once you've seen a flaming moose running toward the camera in slow motion. Full Review

Linda Barnard
March 20, 2009
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

The frustrating thing about Knowing is the story is worthy. But director Proyas tries to cram too much in, as if the tricks and effects wizardry are all that really counts. They aren't. Full Review

Michael O'Sullivan
March 20, 2009
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

The narrative corner into which this movie, directed by Alex Proyas, paints itself is a simultaneously silly and morbidly depressing one. Full Review

Betsy Sharkey
March 20, 2009
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

For me, it doesn't quite work; still I'm glad he took the risk. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Facts

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    • John Koestler: Everybody else.
    • John Koestler: Don't let him watch the news.
    • Diana: What happens when the numbers run out?
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Knowing Trivia

  • In what movie did Johnny Depp go crazy without knowing it?  Answer »
  • To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. I know kung fu.  Answer »
  • In what movie does Julia Roberts claim that "not knowing where she is when she wakes up" is an occupational hazard?   Answer »
  • (2004) "I?m not afraid of dying, I?m afraid of watching you sail away and knowing you?ll never come back. Before you came to Sparta I was a ghost. I walked and I ate and I swam in the sea, but I was just a ghost."   Answer »
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