'Knowing' is just the beginning

What if you knew the fate of the earth's existence before it actually happened? Nicholas Cage is posed with this particularly stress-inducing question in his newest sci-fi blockbuster, "Knowing."

The film begins in Lexington, Mass. in 1959. William Dawes Elementary is about to create a time capsule that is to be dug up 50 years later. Every child is giddy about drawing their thoughts of the future on paper, all except one.

Lucinda Embry, seemingly disturbed, furiously scribbles numbers on her paper. The paper is snatched from her hands before she is able to finish writing the last pair of numbers, and the paper is sealed into the time capsule and placed into the ground.

Fifty years later, Caleb Koestler receives the numbered paper. At first he's baffled by the random numbers, but luckily his dad, John (Cage), is an astrophysicist who just so happens to take a look beyond the randomness and spy a pattern within the numbers.

The numbers mark the date of every natural disaster in the last decade, and ones yet to happen. They also tell the number of causalities.

John is blown away by this new-found knowledge and decides not to fully give into the predictions without any proof. He receives his proof in the form of a devastating disaster, of which he witnesses first hand.

His son Caleb, a natural-born brainiac, is not left out of the mix -- he soon becomes the target of the "whisper people" - creepy men dressed in black who talk to him telepathically.

The audience is left to question the involvement of the "whisper people" until the very end, while John races against time to save lives before the final number on the page reveals itself.

This science fiction film dips into the debate of determinism versus randomness. Which does the universe revolve around? Throughout the film, John is set into one side of the debate, but as the plot unravels he begins to question his beliefs -- which is highly understandable, given the circumstances he is presented with.

Though this film can be somewhat of a thought-provoker, it is still equipped with all the perks of a big budget film. The special effects definitely aren't lacking, especially when it comes to the disasters. Some of the disasters are loosely filmed in first person, bringing the audience closer to the scene.

If you're interested in seeing a film that will have you guessing until the end about the Earth's fate, and you like special effects so real that they leave your heart racing, then this is the one for you.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.