Movie Review: 'Knowing'
Offline Best part about this movie: A toss-up between happening to sit next to a pair of 16-18 year old lesbians who apparently share my sense of humor regarding Christianity, and nobody in the theater caring about us hamming it up throughout the film because they're way too busy playing with their iPods due to the film being unable to catch anyone's attention.
Worst part about this movie: Everything else (Har har! Aren't I hilarious?)
Fuck, Christians need to label their bullshit. This movie is basically Expelled 2, but with (admittedly rather well done) spurts of special effects. I'm dead fucking serious. From the start of the movie to the finish, you're being told & shown how 'close-minded' and dogmatic scientists are, how 'it all couldn't possibly have happened by chance', how nihilistic a naturalistic worldview is, how corrupted by sin all them atheists are, etc, etc, etc.
Do not see this movie. Certainly do not make my mistake of paying to see it, anyway. I definitely wouldn't have made even halfway through if I hadn't been able to make fun of it with the good young ladies seated next to me ("What the fuck? Okay; you two have cellphones, right?" "Of course," "Okay - so if you knew in advance that something bad was going to happen to your girlfriend, you would: A) Scribble down a cryptic series of numbers in the hopes that they could unravel your puzzle in time to avert their impending doom? Or B) Call them on your cell phone and fucking tell them what was up?" "Haha! Yeah, I know, right? I'm a supernatural being, and I can see what's about to happen and I want to warn my 'chosen people'... so I tell some little girl to write down a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper? Lame."
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
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Agreed. It was a rehash of Signs...
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
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I haven't seen it, but it looks stupid and poorly thrown together.
It's probably every bit as horrible as you think it is, if not worse.
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
MySpace
Stupid, yes.
The production values might actually surprise you, though. It had some of the best special effects for an airliner crash that I've ever seen.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
I am not surprised. I knew it was going to be quite the steaming pile of crap moments into the teaser trailer.
I find it just plain depressing how gleefully hollywood pumps out such anti-science claptrap.
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
I just watched the movie last night. I was coming on to post a review but I somehow knew you'd have beaten me to it Kev. Spooky. Maybe it was predetermined :P This post will contain SPOILERS. I doubt anyone's gonig to be watching the movie, but you've been warned
If you ignore the religious imagery I thought the first 2 thirds of the movie were passable brainless fodder. Fun to pass the time but not much else. The accident scenes were pretty grim and I think they've got to be commended on that. The funny thing about the whole film is that they couldn't really decide on where Nic Cage's beliefs sat, or where they came from:
So the whole mess is muddled and you're never quite sure what his deal is with God. Is it because of his father? Because of logic? Because of his wife's horrific death?
I also thought they rather confused their own message by having the chosen children - those that had "heard the call" - raptured at the end of the world but then having the preacher father, he who was willing to accept his judgement, die with the words "This isn't the end son". Are we supposed to assume that the father and his now repentant son are saved? Or is Cage's "I know" supposed to signify he knows the human race will survive and his father is still just deluding himself?
And surely there's a more subtle way to say "You've been warned all along about what's happening in the world but you ignored the Prophets and labelled them as madmen" without actually, you know, saying it.
I'd honestly have been angry if the whole thing wasn't so ridiculous.
M
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
More SPOILERS...
I've been discussing the ending with my brother. He didn't like the blatant use of aliens in the end because he thought it was in direct contrast with their not-so-subtle message and thinks the film would have been better served with a more ambigous group of entities. I think the result would have been the same either way but can imagine a scene like this taking place:
INT: A boardroom. Sat at a table in the middle are Conservative Guy With All The Fucking Money, a Level Headed Exec, and the pathetic remains of Nicolas Cage's career.
LHE: I'm not sure about this ending with God and the angels. The film has some strong religious tones running throughout and our recent market analysis shows that moderm audiences are turned off by direct religious imagery in impact movies. They prefer something more subtle.
CGWATFM: Are you questioning Christ boy?
LHE: No sir... um... I just think that the... um... heathens... will be more likely to give you their money if you don't specifically have God floating around in there.
CGWATFM: Well what are you saying?
LHE: How about we replace the angels with something otherworldly like aliens? That way you keep the rapture - sorry, rescue - and we can still keep up a pretense of subtlety. And you'd still be conveying the message that the unbelievers have been told... hold on, I'm checking my notes... "that the world will be consumed in Holy fire and only those willing to listen to The Call will be saved"
CGWATFM: Hmmmmmmm.... ok, ok. But these aliens have to ascend to the sky somehow. And they should be kind of ethereal. And they should glow. And they should have wings. And their ship should look vaguely like some sort of crown. And they should lead the chosen children to a perfect garden where they will want for nothing the rest of their days. There, that'll fix it.
LHE: You make me want to kill myself
CGWATFM: What?
LHE: Nothing sir
Nicolas Cage's career: Ok, now what's up with my hair?
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
Lol.
To be honest, I stopped giving a rats ass about religious based movies at the time Shia and Ahnold did that film together. I don't remember what it was called, and I don't care to.
Then I saw Dogma, and laughed so hard....
So now I just pay attention to the comedies.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
Word. Too many movies try way too hard to take themselves seriously with OMG DEEPNESS.
*Our world is far more complex than the rigid structure we want to assign to it, and we will probably never fully understand it.*
"Those believers who are sophisticated enough to understand the paradox have found exciting ways to bend logic into pretzel shapes in order to defend the indefensible." - Hamby