DVD - Knowing

Being a fan of Nicolas Cage and paranormal stories, I saw Knowing at the theater with a group of friends. Overall, we all loved the film, although a few of us were a little disturbed by the ending. Knowing is a film that makes you think.... how would you choose to spend your last hours on earth? It also makes you question what would you do if you discovered the world was about to be wiped out. Would you warn others? Would you keep it to yourself? Would you try to make a difference with what little time was left? Would you try to find a way to survive against all odds? If you knew only one could survive, would you choose yourself or would you let someone else be the survivor? All of these are questions the main character, John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) must face. John Koestler is an MIT professor, an astrophysicist and the widowed father of Caleb.

The film begins back in 1959 with a group of elementary students who bury a time capsule containing drawings, notes, letters from the students to be opened in 50 years. A disturbing young girl, Lucinda Embry (Lara Robinson) doesn't get to finish her note, which is a series of seemingly random numbers, before the teacher takes it and seals it in the time capsule. The girl is later found in a closet, scratching the remaining numbers into a door. Flash forward 50 yrs, the capsule is opened and the envelopes are given out to the current generation of children. Caleb (Chandler Canterbury) receives Lucinda's note. Caleb shows the note to his father, John, who initially dismisses it until the numbers 911012996 catches his eye. This is the date September 11, 2001 and the death toll from the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Intrigued he researches and discovers that the numbers list the dates and death tolls of every major disaster in the past 50 yrs along with some that have not occurred yet. Most disturbing of all is the last number which seems incomplete and leads John on a quest to find the meaning, that the world will end. In the meantime his son has started hearing whispers and writing down strange sequences of numbers as has a young girl named Abby, who is a descendant of Lucinda.

I won't give away who survives and who doesn't. For that you must watch the film. The movie keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. I enjoyed that it is not just simply entertainment; it also makes you think. With all the hype about 2012 and the end of the world prophecies, this film makes you ask not only what if.... but what would you do, how would you spend those last days. I personally did not like one element in the ending of the film that I felt was cheesy Hollywood dramatics, but even with that I loved that it got us all talking. Definitely worth watching!