Knowing

[Brian in Mesa]

Alex Proyas to Direct Knowing
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
February 17, 2005

I, Robot director Alex Proyas will helm the supernatural thriller Knowing, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Knowing is the story of a man who unearths a 1950s time capsule with children's drawings predicting the future. One set of drawings depicts horrible events that already have come true, but one of the events has not occurred, and the man sets out to prevent it from happening.

The project is set up at Sony-based producer Escape Artists. Proyas also directed Dark City and The Crow.

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Sounds interesting, especially with Proyas doing it.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne on board.

 

[Chaplin]

Nicolas Cage?? NOOOO! I love Alex Proyas' directing style, but Nicolas Cage? Really?

 

[Gaddabout]

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Knowing is an upcoming 2009 science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially backed by Summit Entertainment, which will also distribute the film. Knowing was filmed in Melbourne, Australia, using various locations to represent the film's setting, Boston. The film is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2009.

John Koestler (Cage), a professor, finds that the contents of a time capsule at his son's elementary school makes predictions of major disasters that happen in the future which of course do happen. Koestler then realizes that the numbers eventually stop on the paper. This leads the teacher to believe the world is ending, and that he and his son are involved in the apocalypse.[2]

Proyas directed, among other things, Dark City, which might be my favorite movie from the 90s. I'm looking forward to yet another good sci-fi spin from him.

 

[Chaplin]

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Knowing is an upcoming 2009 science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially backed by Summit Entertainment, which will also distribute the film. Knowing was filmed in Melbourne, Australia, using various locations to represent the film's setting, Boston. The film is scheduled to be released on March 20, 2009.

John Koestler (Cage), a professor, finds that the contents of a time capsule at his son's elementary school makes predictions of major disasters that happen in the future which of course do happen. Koestler then realizes that the numbers eventually stop on the paper. This leads the teacher to believe the world is ending, and that he and his son are involved in the apocalypse.[2]

Proyas directed, among other things, Dark City, which might be my favorite movie from the 90s. I'm looking forward to yet another good sci-fi spin from him.

My biggest worry about this movie is that Nicholas Cage is in it.

 

[Gaddabout]

My biggest worry about this movie is that Nicholas Cage is in it.

That's always a good place to start worrying. My second concern is it had a $50 million budget. Directors like Proyas, I think it's artistically better to give them half of what they say they need and let them produce miracles. Otherwise, you end up with I, Robot, which looked gorgeous but was probably too many moving parts for a guy with a natural eye for moving the camera. Like asking an F-1 driver to do NASCAR.

It's hard to argue with what he did with Dark City. Also, I was surprised how much I enjoyed The Crow. Visually, Proyas is better than his more hailed contemporary, Rich Rodriguez, who gets a bit too much credit for his guerrilla-style filmmaking IMO. Throwing the camera around at odd angles that makes me aware of the angle isn't the same thing as presenting a great visual story. Proyas knows how to present the width and depth of a background to make the scenery a character unto itself.

We'll see. The story doesn't even excite me. I can't think of a worse time to distribute yet another armageddon-inspired story. But it's Proyas, so I'm operating on a lot of faith here.

 

[Chaplin]

That's always a good place to start worrying. My second concern is it had a $50 million budget. Directors like Proyas, I think it's artistically better to give them half of what they say they need and let them produce miracles. Otherwise, you end up with I, Robot, which looked gorgeous but was probably too many moving parts for a guy with a natural eye for moving the camera. Like asking an F-1 driver to do NASCAR.

It's hard to argue with what he did with Dark City. Also, I was surprised how much I enjoyed The Crow. Visually, Proyas is better than his more hailed contemporary, Rich Rodriguez, who gets a bit too much credit for his guerrilla-style filmmaking IMO. Throwing the camera around at odd angles that makes me aware of the angle isn't the same thing as presenting a great visual story. Proyas knows how to present the width and depth of a background to make the scenery a character unto itself.

We'll see. The story doesn't even excite me. I can't think of a worse time to distribute yet another armageddon-inspired story. But it's Proyas, so I'm operating on a lot of faith here.

To me, Proyas is the best when he is able to use models to achieve a desired effect. He did that so well in The Crow and Dark City. Normally, I'd be all for more realistic cityscapes, but the whole point is to make something very noirish and expressionistic. He's gotten away from that. I, Robot to me was very disappointing because he spent too much time on the robots and not enough on the atmosphere of the city the story took place in. He came close in the junkyard, but not close enough.

 

[Shane]

Entertaining but wayyyyy to long. the special effects were incredible IMO.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

Amen, the special effects were fantastic! The story was pretty good as well, and I am glad that it ended the way it did. It was good.

 

[PoolBoy]

Nicholas Cage sucks IMO, but I heard he is alright in this movie. I might just wait for DVD on this one.

 

[Skkorpion]

Enjoyed it very much. Technically, darkening filters were way overdone, as seems to be in vogue today.

The dissapointing thing about my last two weeks of theatre going has been viewing the trailers for this summer's movies. A whole lot of blah so far.

 

[Chaplin]

Finally saw it today. I actually really liked it. Great ending that could have been totally cheesy, but wasn't. There were a few times that I was reminded of Dark City, especially the end. And Rose Byrne is a fabulous actress. And the casting super on this film is stupendous--her little girl looked exactly like her.

 

[AsUdUdE]

The first 90 minutes were spectacular... the last 30-40 minutes was not good, but good enough not to ruin the movie...

All in all 4/5 stars IMO.. I will prolly buy this when it comes out

 

[nashman]

thought it was very good saw it last night

 

[UncleChris]

A very interesting movie, one that the bride and I liked a lot....

For the bad news...
1. It couldn't make up its mind as to whether it's theme was aliens, religious or paranormal... or perhaps some sort of blend of the 3...

2. wtf was up with the rocks????

3. Some other unexplained and even unhinted at stuff.

4. Why were aliens/angels/supreme beings/whatever able to predict stuff?


And the good news....

1. Generally decent plot.

2. Perhaps the best special effects I have ever seen. The airplane and subway scenes were incredibly intense and believable. Simply WOW!!! And did I mention WOW?

3. I actually liked Cage.

4. I actually liked the kids

5. In spite of the predictability of Bryne's character, still good.

6. The cliche' stuff worked.


I couldn't quite bring myself to award this film 4 out of 5 stars, so I'll say 3.998 out of 5 stars. Really good movie, one that I will have in my collection.

 

[NoelPHX]

I saw this in the theatres and I am watching it again I liked it so much. I don't understand why this was panned so bad.

 

[Covert Rain]

I have to agree with the above that the film seem to go back and forth between themes. The movie seemed to lack direction for me because of it. Having said that, it was a good movie and worth watching again. I agree with several others the FX were cool.

 

[mojorizen7]

Just caught this one tonight. I also thought it was pretty murky at times but in the end it was a good film. As long as I don't have to see "Action hero Cage" then I like his work.
3.5/5

Spoiler

The plane crash scene done with a single shot combining CGI and practical effects was simply amazing looking....and full of impact....awesome sequence. The whole chapter,the moments leading up to it were chilling.

 

[D-Dogg]

I enjoyed this one. CGI was awesome in it...plot was good...little bit gimmicky towards the end and I wished they had ended it without showing the kids again...much better ending without that.

 

[Bada0Bing]

I enjoyed this one. CGI was awesome in it...plot was good...little bit gimmicky towards the end and I wished they had ended it without showing the kids again...much better ending without that.

I have to agree. I was really into the story until the end.