Knowing

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Knowing is among the best science-fiction films I've seen -- frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome.

Film Threat Scott Mendelson

This is a severely flawed, but also a fascinating and engrossing science fiction film, a picture that offers far more than surface thrills.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

It's just engaging enough to make you accept the possibility that two kids from the Boston suburbs may just be mankind’s only hope for the future, and just exciting enough to make you forget that you're watching a Nicolas Cage movie.

Portland Oregonian Stan Hall

By being judicious with CGI, Proyas gives the film's handful of disaster sequences great impact.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Genre fans always looking for something new and awesome may feel like they've seen most of this before, but the conceptual and emotional strength of Summit's Nicolas Cage starrer largely carries the day.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Yes, Knowing is creepy, at least for the first two-thirds or so, in a moderately satisfying, if predictable, way.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Early scenes of mayhem and destruction are marred by subpar special effects; those in the final reel are spectacular, but there's a long wait for them because the movie is so maddeningly, portentously slow.

Los Angeles Times Betsy Sharkey

Whatever else Proyas has done in Knowing, he has created an ending that is sure to divide audiences into camps of love it or hate it, deeming its message either hopeful or hopelessly heavy-handed. For me, it doesn't quite work; still I'm glad he took the risk.

Premiere Olivia Putnal

While the concept is interesting, the whole thing comes off as a rather hilarious, um, disaster.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Knowing has about a half-dozen screenwriter credits, which may explain why scenes crash up against one another - smart, stupid, far-fetched, compelling. And the trouble is that Cage walks (or runs) through them all, treating each with the same level of intensely goofy seriousness.

Chicago Tribune Christopher Borrelli

Until it jumps the tracks into self-righteousness, though, Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas, can also be as unnerving as the best episodes of "The Twilight Zone."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Science fiction fans will feel gypped, disaster movie fans will appreciate about 10 minutes of screen time and be bored by the rest, and no one else will care.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Knowing offers mumbo jumbo on an apocalyptic scale.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee

A catalogue of made-in-America delusions, hallucinations and cosmic catastrophes that draws on environmental fear-mongering in one reel and evangelical lore the next.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Knowing frequently feels one Revelation quote away from turning into a chiding, fundamentalist-friendly end-of-the-world movie in the "Left Behind" mold.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

The draggy, lurching two hours of Knowing will make you long for the end of the world, even as you worry that there will not be time for all your questions to be answered.

USA Today Claudia Puig

If you're of a mind to believe a dreary and far-fetched thriller about numerology-crazed alien life forms, then you may find the movie mildly diverting.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Starts off mildly ridiculous, ascends to the full-blown ludicrous, and finally sails boldly off the edge of the absolutely preposterous.

New York Post Kyle Smith

UH-UH. Non. Nein. Negative. Sept. 11 is not to be used as the setup for a cheesy disaster prophecy flick.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Reviewers sometimes insult actors by saying they don't vary their expressions across an entire movie. But until Knowing, I never thought that could literally be true. Nicolas Cage does widen his eyes with about 15 minutes left in the film.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

If you want to know how inept the movie is...well, it's so inept that you may wish you were watching an M. Night Shyamalan version of the very same premise.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

If Alex Proyas' Knowing were reasonably entertaining -- instead of just dour, pointless and tedious -- it would be a camp classic.

LA Weekly Jim Ridley

What would a Christian Apocalypse movie look like with a big budget, a talented director, and star power of higher wattage than a discount Baldwin brother? Here comes the answer: like a glum hybrid of the "Final Destination" movies, an Irwin Allen disaster bash, and the kitschiest parts of Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain."

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Director Alex Proyas resolutely thinks in B-movie terms. Even with an A-list budget, he oversells every plot point and gooses the thrills with hokey lighting, bombastic music and serious overacting.

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

Knowing is the path to eternal pain.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

If you see only one bad movie this year, definitely make it Knowing. The first major disappointment from director Alex Proyas is a disaster movie, a horror picture, a "Da Vinci Code"-style thriller and an end-of-days religious film all at once.

New York Daily News Joe Neumaier

Isn't prophetic ... just pathetic