History Film / Knowing

'''''Knowing''''' is a 2009 ScienceFiction / DisasterMovie starring NicolasCage and directed by Alex Proyas.

** ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler: Planetary, Total Extinction. Scientists were predicting the flare to wipe out all life through radiation, but it simply burns Earth into a rocky, airless wasteland]]

** While stuck in traffic, Nicolas Cage works out that he's on the exact co-ordinates of the next disaster. He gets out of his car and walks to where the hold-up is; a stalled ''LPG tanker''. Just when you're wondering how he's ever going to survive when the tanker explodes,[[spoiler: [[UpToEleven a passenger airliner falls out of the sky behind him]].]]

'''''Knowing''''' is a 2009 ScienceFiction/DisasterMovie starring NicolasCage and directed by Alex Proyas.

'''''Knowing''''' is a 2009 science fiction/disaster movie starring NicolasCage and directed by Alex Proyas.

** Subverted with the cute albino bunny not turning into {{Killer Rabbit}}s.

* LookBothWays: Happens to Diana in Knowing. She doesn't get better.
* MagicalDefibrillator: Knowing does a weird version of this. The EKG is clearly showing v-fib (i.e. the thing you actually want to defibrillate) and the EMT administers defib, which correctly stops the heart. This, however, surprises the EMT somewhat, causing them to call the time of death without even attempting CPR.

* RevolversAreForAmateurs: Nicholas Cage's character in Knowing decides he needs a gun, and appears very inexperienced, to the point of methodically reading the manual, and then proceeding to run around with his finger on the trigger, in direct violation of the many, many safety warnings in the manual. It appears to be a stainless N-frame Smith & Wesson with rosewood grips, so at least he has good taste.

* ThroatLight

''Knowing'' is a 2009 science fiction/disaster movie starring NicolasCage and directed by Alex Proyas.

!!Tropes seen in ''Knowing'' include:

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played fairly straight, especially when [[spoiler: it's mostly kids who hear the call of the angel/alien things to leave earth]].

* PlotHole:
** [[spoiler: Why would aliens tell a young girl every disaster there will be when the world is going to end in 50 years anyway? Also what the heck were the numbers that Caleb was writing all about? There couldn't have been that many disasters in 24 fricken hours!]]
*** The point was to show that [[spoiler: the aliens were forcing many other kids to write the numbers throughout history and all over the world.]] This way the first girl at the start of the movie is not the only one with the numbers. And thus several people would learn about the numbers, realize that [[spoiler:everyone will die]] and parents will be OK with [[spoiler:aliens taking the kids on the spaceships]]. This troper is making a large assumption about this based on the fact that we see several space ships leaving at the end.
*** Double plot hole since [[spoiler:the aliens could easily kidnap the kids against the parents will at any time they want. And they freaking do at the end.]]
*** Was Cage's character the only person on earth to ever figure out the purpose of the numbers? Because otherwise someone else would have told the media and easily proven that the numbers were true and become a famous billionaire. [[spoiler:Did all of the other ships at the end come for kids who were kidnapped because their parents did not notice?]]
** [[spoiler: Why don't the aliens just tell humans in a normal way that shit will go down on the last day and to be ready instead of giving the numbers which only super geniuses could figure out?]]
*** [[spoiler: [[BlueAndOrangeMorality Because they're aliens]]. Chances are they don't understand how humans communicate on a large scale. Hell, chances are large scale communication may be against the conventions of polite behavior for them. They're alien. They don't think like us. Also, there is the possibility of phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space: they might not be ''able'' to communicate in a way we see as normal, and as far as they know, that ''was'' normal.]]
**** [[spoiler: Yet if they knew how humans note dates and coordinates well enough so that they could induce CHILDREN to write them down, they can't have been that ignorant of human society or psychology. And there's no explanation of why such a technologically-advanced species couldn't learn to friggin' speak English, or at least make devices that could translate their thoughts for them!]]
** [[spoiler: Why did they not start picking up people until the last day, why not start gathering people 50 years ago?]]
*** [[spoiler: Causality. If they'd interfered before the flare, it would alter our history. Even the parts that hadn't happened, yet. Again, they're aliens. Rules of biology, legality and communication are vague.]]
** [[spoiler: Why do aliens care at all about the humans?]]
*** Why would they not?
*** [[spoiler: Everybody needs a hobby. For some [entities], it's wildlife preservation. CosmicHorrorStory, remember?]]
** [[spoiler: Why do the aliens only grab some people, specifically kids who can "hear them"? Nick Cage asks why he is not allowed to go with his son and not be burnt alive but was told that he could not basically "just because".]]
*** [[spoiler: Because ChildrenAreInnocent. The adults had their chance and they messed everything up. Which is a logical fallacy, but again... aliens.]]
*** [[spoiler: How did adults mess things up? Did we forget to build a sun shield at some time in history? Was that what we should have been doing instead of building things like the internet?]]
** [[spoiler: Why did the aliens have to drive to the center of a forest for pickup? They are aliens, they can land anywhere. And they already have the kid in their possession and who cares if people see the aliens?]]
** [[spoiler: Why do the aliens give black rocks to the kid? There are black rocks at the pick up point, but the aliens drag the kid to the point, the kid does not go to the point himself.]]
** What was the point of giving Lucinda the vision in the first place? If she was one of the chosen ones to be saved, why did the Strangers drive her so insane that she eventually ''killed herself''?

Fifty years later, the elementary school class of Dr. John Koestler's son, Caleb, opens up the capsule. Caleb finds Lucinda's piece of paper, taking it home with him, puzzled by the numbers. John begins obsessing over it, soon discovering the numbers are not random, but, rather, are the exact dates and death tolls [[spoiler: and coordinates]] of every major disaster in the past fifty years. These prove to be accurate for everything from hotel fires to 9/11. However, not all of these are for past events as there are a handful of predictions that haven't happened yet.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: This movie flips between the ideas of complete randomness and everything happening for a reason all too much.

** ApocalypseWow: [[spoiler: The shot of New York being enveloped by a wall of fire easily gives the similar scene in Film/IndependenceDay a run for its money.]]

* HotMom: Diana

*** [[spoiler: Well... why not? They're trying to be nice about all this, and mass hysteria wasn't part of their planned effect, but honestly, the answer is why not? If they did decide to land in the middle of civilization, you could just as easily ask why they didn't go in the woods.]]

*** [[spoiler: Imagine a guy with crazy hair holding an invisible ball with standard meme letters: ALIENS. That black rock may have been perfectly clear instructions... ''to them''. They tried to explain the details of the appointment, but the tall human was going to make the kids miss their ride. He wanted to put them in a subterranean burn hole. What choice did they have, really?]]

*** Unfortunate side effect. The paper needed to be in the capsule. That was the whole of her purpose beside having a grandchild. The fact the imported information knocked her out of her mind was an accident.

**** [[spoiler: Yet if they knew how humans notate dates and coordinates well enough so that they could induce CHILDREN to write them down, they can't have been that ignorant of human society or psychology. And there's no explanation of why such a technologically-advanced species couldn't learn to friggin' speak English, or at least make devices that could translate their thoughts for them!]]

*** Unfortunate side effect. The paper needed to be in the capsule. That was the whole of her purpose beside having a grandchild. The fact the the imported information knocked her out of her mind was an accident.

** GainaxEnding: Just see the PlotHole section in the YMMV page to see just how confusing it is.

* It appears John's car was destroyed in [[spoiler: the plane crash]] but later he is shown driving the same car.

* It appears John car was destroyed in [[spoiler: the plane crash]] but later he is shown driving the same car.

** While stuck in traffic, Nicolas Cage works out that he's on the exact co-ordinates of the next disaster. He gets out of his car and walks to where the hold-up is; a stalled ''LPG tanker''. Just when you're wondering how he's ever going to survive when the tanker explodes,[[spoiler [[UpToEleven a passenger airliner falls out of the sky behind him]].]]

** The numbers say that people will die in New York and the movie mentions how people in New York are scared about a possible terrorist attack. Cage goes to the place where the attack will take place and sees a weird looking guy and chases him thinking he is a terrorist. Turn out[[spoiler the guy was stealing disks and then the train immediately malfunctions and kills people like the numbers predicted.]]

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played fairly straight, especially when [[spoiler: it's mostly kids who hear the call of the angel things to leave earth]].

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: Through the whole film, [[spoiler: the aliens appear as humans. At the end of the film, they reveal their true form.]] Played with a bit, as they're [[UncannyValley not very successful at the "comfortable" part.]]

* [[spoiler:[[OurAngelsAreDifferent Our Angels/Aliens/Whatever They Are Are Different]] it's not clear whether the "whisperer people" are angels, aliens or both. They have spaceships like aliens, and in one scene the wispy light around their bodies looks like wings, like angels. (Also the movie hints the final event is the second coming of Christ.) Whatever they are, ]]they act creepy, mysterious, and threatening. [[spoiler:They speak in whispers as their child given name implies, shoot light out of their mouths and tell of future events.]]

** While stuck in traffic, Nicolas Cage works out that he's on the exact co-ordinates of the next disaster. He gets out of his car and walks to where the hold-up is; a stalled ''LPG tanker''. Just when you're wondering how he's ever going to survive when the tanker explodes, [[UpToEleven a passenger airliner falls out of the sky behind him]].

** The numbers say that people will die in New York and the movie mentions how people in New York are scared about a possible terrorist attack. Cage goes to the place where the attack will take place and sees a weird looking guy and chases him thinking he is a terrorist. Turn out the guy was stealing disks and then the train immediately malfunctions and kills people like the numbers predicted.