Knowing. (SPOILERS in OP)

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Necronic

Necronic

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And I'm not blanking out the spoilers.

That movie sucked major balls. That is one of the most depressing movies I have ever seen. Its like they tried to make it feelgood, because the kids get to live on, but fucking EVERYONE ELSE FUCKING DIES? There's absolutely nothing they can do? Maybe its some kind of metaphorical thing about how everyone does die, but the idea of it hapening like that, where you get absolutely no say? It may be a fact of life that that's how things can happen, but that's not the kind of shit I need in a movie. Ever. That's a painful reality that we all know, but to sucker punch the audience with that, was fucking low.

Terrible god damned movie. And I like depressing movies, just not like that. That was pure :pud:
 

Yeah, it really was terrible. Not terrible to the point that I regret watching it, but I got it for free at work and got my money's worth.

That said...this couldn't have just gone in the "Movies you just watched" thread?
 
D

DougTheHead

Necronic said:
There's absolutely nothing they can do? Maybe its some kind of metaphorical thing about how everyone does die, but the idea of it hapening like that, where you get absolutely no say? It may be a fact of life that that's how things can happen, but that's not the kind of shit I need in a movie. Ever. That's a painful reality that we all know, but to sucker punch the audience with that, was fucking low.
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Such are the perils of a deterministic universe- you have no control over your own actions, as they're just the sum of a group of predetermined factors.

Such are also the perils of a chaotic universe- you have control over your actions, but no control over the consequences.

For me, that's what the whole movie was about. The execution of the film could have been better, but I appreciated a movie that took a long, hard look into the abyss. For what it's worth, I thought the ending was purposefully bleak- Cage's reassurances to his kids were supposed to come off as half-assed and illogical, because the truth is they were either saved by random chance or a universal equation so cruel that it decided everyone else on Earth needed to die, and how could you live with that knowledge? Better to dress it up in myth and pull a happy ending out its ass. It seems obvious to me that the movie is largely about how people turn to religion to hide the existential horror of the purely scientific universe, which is either deterministic or chaotic; and while I don't agree with the movie's view, I found it compelling.

If you felt horrified, powerless, and angry at the film's end, I'd say it was testament to the skill with which it was made. While I thought the movie went a bit too far into "Nicholas Cage Crazy Mode," the final scenes struck a deeper chord with me than the usual disaster movies do, and the basic idea behind the film- that life on our planet could be extinguished in an instant, without warning, us unable to do anything about it- is a valid and even important subject for a film to explore.
 
Charlie Don't Surf

Charlie Don't Surf

DougTheHead said:
For me, that's what the whole movie was about. The execution of the film could have been better, but I appreciated a movie that took a long, hard look into the abyss. For what it's worth, I thought the ending was purposefully bleak- Cage's reassurances to his kids were supposed to come off as half-assed and illogical, because the truth is they were either saved by random chance or a universal equation so cruel that it decided everyone else on Earth needed to die, and how could you live with that knowledge? Better to dress it up in myth and pull a happy ending out its ass. It seems obvious to me that the movie is largely about how people turn to religion to hide the existential horror of the purely scientific universe, which is either deterministic or chaotic; and while I don't agree with the movie's view, I found it compelling.

If you felt horrified, powerless, and angry at the film's end, I'd say it was testament to the skill with which it was made. While I thought the movie went a bit too far into "Nicholas Cage Crazy Mode," the final scenes struck a deeper chord with me than the usual disaster movies do, and the basic idea behind the film- that life on our planet could be extinguished in an instant, without warning, us unable to do anything about it- is a valid and even important subject for a film to explore.
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This is a really good post, and I agree with nearly all of it. Knowing was a great idea with only a good execution. I loved the way the mini-disasters ramped up towards the end. Even though the end got a little muddled and some of the horror movie stuff dragged a little in the middle, I thought it was still pretty good and I definitely respect what it was trying to say.

Nicolas Cage crazy mode was kind of warranted because of what all was happening. I really wish the marketing hadn't made this movie look so bizarre.
 
Espy

Espy

I agree with Charlie and Doug. It wasn't the best movie, but it was a nice little sci-fi flick that had some good stuff in it. Not perfect in any way, but far from the worst movie of this year (Transformers 2, which oddly enough also left me feeling horrified, powerless, and angry at the film's end).
 
S

Steven Soderburgin

The first 45 minutes or so were intriguing. When it goes crazy, that's sort of fun to watch, I guess.

The ending is incredibly off-putting.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

The movie made me phone my folks at home after I came out of the cinema. That's gotta be worth something.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Charlie Dont Surf said:
That the ending was somewhat emotionally manipulative
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Well then, they got me good.

Eh, I don't watch enough movies to know the difference between emotionally manipulative and not. Oh well.
 
A

Alucard

This is what the fourth or fifth discussion on this movie right?
All things being despite Cage it was an interesting flick. For me it
was like watching an x files film.

The ending was a bit disconcerting due to the finality of it all and the
aliens interceding was like a deus ex.

It was sort of like a modern allusion to that biblical account of the flood
except this time it was a solar flare.

Overall it was an okay movie but I think the way it ended made most people think.
 
S

Steven Soderburgin

BlackCat said:
Overall it was an okay movie but I think the way it ended made most people think.
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Think what, though?

I found it to be disgustingly lurid and completely manipulative.
 
L

Le Quack

I like all of Nicholaus Cage's movies. Either they are so terrible they are good(Wicker Man), or he does a great job(Bringing Out the Dead).

Knowing was a good movie in the sense that it touched you emotionally, and effected the way you think. It was a great "piece."
 
P

Philosopher B.

Nicolas Cage is dreamy, I just wanna touch his receding hairline.
 
Espy

Espy

Nah, it wasn't a thinkers movie, not like Dark City was, it was fluff Sci-Fi. That doesn't make it bad, it just didn't have the depth that I want from Alex Proyas.
I remember telling my wife, halfway through, "We better damn well see this end of the world they are talking about, or I am gonna be pissed" and we did! Woo! It was pretty sweet.

Also: Emotionally manipulative? Man, this movie felt so far from emotionally manipulative, not for lack of trying but I just didn't care one lick for any of the characters so... I felt no manipulation.
 
G

Gill Kaiser

Le Quack said:
I like all of Nicholaus Cage's movies. Either they are so terrible they are good(Wicker Man), or he does a great job(Bringing Out the Dead).

Knowing was a good movie in the sense that it touched you emotionally, and effected the way you think. It was a great "piece."
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The Wicker Man might have fallen into the "so terrible it's good" category if it weren't a remake of a classic and beloved film. Since it was, it ended up simply being a travesty.

If you really want to see a film that's so bad it's good, watch Troll 2.
 
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