Knowing (2009)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
John Koestler	Nicolas Cage	½
Caleb Koestler	Chandler Canterbury	½
Diana Whelan	Rose Byrne	½
Abby / Lucinda Whelan	Lara Robinson	½
The Stranger	D. G. Maloney	½
Grace Koestler	Nadia Townsend
Reverend Koestler	Alan Hopgood
Phil Beckman	Ben Mendelsohn

Review

In Knowing, Nicolas Cage starts out in a scientific, probing environment and ends up as the witness to a shamelessly glorified biblical parable set against the latest in pseudo-scientific armageddons. In theme, the film is a combination of timeless and transitory, dealing with existential questions while milking one of our time's greatest collective fears; global warming and climate change. The existentialistic discussion is unsatisfactory, however; every proposition and solution is borrowed cheaply from the Bible. If you're trying to think outside of the box, Knowing will soon pull you back into it. Both the film's narrative and inherent ominousness feels old-school and dumbing. In the end, these drawbacks wipe out the memories of the film's interesting and chilling first half in which a time-capsule and a clever puzzle form an attractive basis.