Knowing (2009): These Numbers Mean Something [Joey’s Review]

When I first saw KNOWING a few years ago, I didn’t know what to make of it. I hadn’t been fully indoctrinated into the Church of Cage yet, so I didn’t go in wearing rose-colored glasses. It confused me and I didn’t know if I liked it. The ending is simultaneously definitive and open-ended, which — in a way — also describes most of the movie. The whole thing is a lot to process.

The podcast we recorded for this episode is one of our longest and most in-depth to date. Because we get into this movie in a way we really haven’t too often so far in #CageClub, I don’t think I need to say a whole lot here. I truly think this is one of our best episodes yet because we try to figure out why the movie works — and why it also doesn’t work.

I wound up liking Knowing a lot more the second time around. I don’t know that it’s necessarily a great movie, because there’s just too much stuff going on. But everything it does is done confidently, and the movie really commits to its bonkers sci-fi premise(s). In a career mostly devoid of hardcore sci-fi films (aside from NEXT), it’s great to see Cage acting in something mind-bending like this.

Watching this movie the second time around, I realized how many actors in it have gone on to great things since. Ben Mendelsohn! Rose Byrne! The film debut of Liam Hemsworth! I didn’t know who any of these people were when I first watched this in 2010/2011; now that I do, it only added to my enjoyment of the film the second time around.

Despite Knowing not necessarily being a great movie, I love it. I love it because it’s an original idea/IP with a massive budget at a time when there aren’t nearly enough of them. I love it because it doesn’t compromise or try to go mainstream; the movie literally ends with all of humanity dying, save for a few kids who are going to re-populate an alien world. Like, what! This is not a Hollywood Movie, but rather an ambitious indie with a massive budget. Give me more of these, please.

Knowing is a movie you should definitely watch because it’s unlike most other movies. (Except, in some ways, DARK CITY, the most famous film by Knowing’s director Alex Proyas.) It’s not Cage’s best film, or his best role, but it’s a good movie and he’s good in it, and it’s a pretty crazy movie. Check it out!

How can I watch it? All three movies this week are going to cost you a couple bucks if you want to rent ’em.

What’s up next? We’re returning to the “Cage as animated animal” well with G-FORCE!