Chase reviews KNOWING

Knowing is the new film starring Nicholas Cage, so you know the formula. Nic has to save the world from BLANK by running around with a flashlight and using BLANK to BLANK. In this case the missing words are The Sun, Maths and SPOILER.

I can’t reveal what the last blank stands for, as it would not only be a huge spoiler, but it would also deprive you of one of the most unintentionally hilarious plot twists in recent memory. I’ll give you a hint – its right up there in the obvious plot twist directory, and its not ‘its all a dream.’

Having said that, it’s a Nic Cage movie, so we know exactly what obvious character traits and plot twists to expect. Nic is a single father with an alcohol problem, emotionally distant parents, and most shockingly of all he doesn’t believe in God. If you have no idea whether or not he reunites with his parents, ends up believing in God, or spends the whole film shouting “Where is my son?” then you clearly have never seen a Nic Cage film.

The premise is an interesting one. In the fifties, a spooky little girl; scribbles a string of numbers on a piece of paper and puts it in a time capsule, along with her classmates drawings of spacemen and hover cars. In the present day, the numbers fall into the hands of Astrophysicist Nic Cage who uses his astrophysicist training to put the numbers into google. He realises that the numbers predict major disasters across the world (although we are only really concerned with the ones on American soil.)

So far, so Shyamalan, but unfortunately the film descends into a sort of sub-par Twilight Zone as we move from (impressive) set piece to set piece, following Cage and his trusty flashlight.

All in all it’s a ridiculous Nicholas Cage film, so if you enjoyed national treasure, Bangkok Dangerous or the unintentional comedy of the Wicker Man, then it isn’t a bad way to pass a couple of hours. Think about it for more than fifteen seconds though, and plot holes and inconsistencies start to poke holes in Nic Cageworld.