Short of it: Something Proyas has done has struck a chord and changed the action genre for the better. There are ups and downs, along with some extraordinary questions asked throughout, equaling a very solid film.
I must admit that, going into this movie, I was hoping for something different from Alex Proyas, the famed director of The Crow and Dark City, and something different is what I got! A whirlwind of devastation, spookiness, and downright “huh?” What more could you ask for?
Knowing Movie Review
The story follows John (Nicolas Cage) and his son Caleb, who attend a 50-year-anniversary unveiling of a time capsule at Caleb’s school. With the unveiling, Caleb receives an envelope containing a letter full of seemingly random numbers scribbled front and back.
John, an astrophysicist and recent widower, is doing his best to take care of Caleb after the freak accident that took his wife a year ago. The family storyline is woven throughout the film in intricate detail. Questions of life, and what lies beyond, surface pretty quickly and hit hard throughout.
Following the discovery of this random numbered note, John discovers a pattern, one that may come off a bit on the crazy side. The pattern shows him all of the major disasters and the deaths involved since 1948 in chronological order. Something that is hard to believe but soon to be proven by the next numbers in sequence. Soon we meet the “whisper people” who follow Caleb around whispering in his head – as they did the little girl who originally wrote the numbers down. Spooky, freaky, downright creepy – that’s how I would describe how Proyas put these “people” into the storyline.
Proyas does a solid job of making us really feel for the cast on many different levels. The inevitable questions of life after death, spirituality, and many others pop up all over this film. He really made me think during this movie, not something I admittedly enjoy during most action films. The way he intertwined questions, reasoning and life was done very well.
The look and the feel of the film was pretty darn real throughout up till the end of the film. I will not spoil anything for you although I sit here thinking “I need someone to spill the beans to!”.
Overall, the movie was a thought-provoking action movie. With twists and turns around almost every corner, Proyas really gave us something different than the norm. I would recommend this one as a rental as it’s not so much a “theater” film. My wife, who rarely follows me to films said this about it: “If I were to go to the bathroom midway through the movie and come back in for the end, I would wonder if I had gone into a different theater”. Take it at face value but there is some truth to it. The beginning and end don’t necessary match up.
