Knowing 4K Ultra HD [4K + Blu-ray] [4K UHD]

If you want to go into the movie "fresh", do not read this. Spoilers may be peppered within the following review. I did my best not to give to much away.I was highly anticipating this movie. I did not get the chance to see it in theaters, but the Blu-ray experience is just as good.I was disappointed when I heard mixed reviews about this film. After hearing "it was just ok" again and again, I did not expect such an original story with great directing. Despite the few bad reviews, I was still excited to see this movie.This movie is dark. It is quite morose at times. There are many sequences of terrible tragedies which will burn images into your mind. The special effects are very well done. The directing was perfect for such an eerie movie. Acting was solid. Nick Cage did very well. Finally he picks a great script with a concrete plot.The movie seems longer than it is, but in a good way. So much happens. I didn't want it to end. Just when it started to slow down, a huge twist or action scene popped in and blew me away.Many people complained about the end of this film. I believe the end of this movie completes it in such a way that I never would have thought. I did somewhat see the end coming, but it took it to a completely different level that I was not expecting. That's what I loved about this movie. Just when you think something is about to happen, it happened bigger and better than expected. Then it takes it further and completely pushes the limit.Knowing is one of the more powerful movies I have ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen and I was almost brought to tears by the powerful depth and intensity of the plot with the characters involved.Some of my favorite movies are Stay, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Fountain, Sunshine, and anything by Wes Anderson.You owe it to yourself to at least check out this movie. If you are a Cage fan you will love this movie. He hasn't played such an intense role since 8mm and Face/Off. The better of the many movies I have seen in the past five or so years. Well worth it.

worked well" worth the price"

This is the best film I have seen this year! I wish I had known more of what this was about because it is the type of film to be experienced in a theatre.It is very hard to categorize this film. I call it a science fiction-disaster thriller. It starts out like a horror film with a very wierd girl and a time capsule that is perserved in 1959. It contains letters written by children and is opened in 2009. Each of the present day children, including Nicholas Cage's son Caleb (Chandler Canterbury - who gives an awesome performance), gets a letter. Caleb gets the letter from the wierd girl that contains nothing but numbers. But soon we find out the numbers are days and location numbers of all disasters from 1959-2009. Two are shown in the film in spectacular fashion. Caleb and his dad eventually find the relatives of the wierd girl who wrote the letter in '59; a woman and her child. I will not spell out the whole story here but the two disasters we see and all the others mentioned lead to a day in 2009 that earth will never forget.The last scene between Caleb and his dad is simply heart breaking. The last disaster is visually impressive as well. The ending will inspire you.Truly a movie I will not forget and can not recommend highly enough.

The problem in reviewing any movie is that in all likelihood one will inadvertently reveal too much and spoil it for others. And I'm afraid I will as well. Personally, I think this movie works best if people forgo looking at any of the reviews and see this film fresh and without prejudice (so rent it first). That being said, here is my review.KNOWING is an eye-popping movie with excellent visuals and special effects ... the airliner disaster had my jaw dropping. It is also very effective as a countdown thrill ride. I loved its ambiguities, but because of this, many people have different interpretations and either loved or hated this movie with equal ferocity, depending upon which interpretation they perceived. Two such movies with similar conflicts are Stanley Kubrick's, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and Steven Spielberg's (in honor of Kubrick who was to direct this movie) AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.In 2001, ambiguities run rampant. What did any of it mean? What's the monolith all about? What exactly turned HAL into a killer? What in the heck happened in the entire last act? In AI, one will ask many questions as well, especially, who were those creatures at the end? Aliens (as so many believed) or highly advanced robots who were seeking knowledge of their creator (humans)? People either hated these movies or loved them depending upon their personal interpretations. Hint ... they were NOT aliens in AI.In many ways we see the same ambiguities concerning KNOWING; are the creatures aliens or are they angels (or even a combination of both if one thinks our belief system was alien influenced)? If one really watches and pays the least bit of attention, one "should" clearly see the director's intent. Hint ... they were ... ________ (meaning: find out for yourselves).I thought KNOWING was an entertaining ride that kept me interested throughout, but as we begin to understand that we may be looking at a disaster of mega proportions, other questions of why and for what purpose does this list of numbers serve, begins to settle in. Is our universe random and chaotic? Or is there an order and design that is impossible for us to grasp? In truth, neither interpretation matters much because there is nothing the human race can do about cosmological events.I felt that this movie was quite thought provoking (plenty of discussions around the water cooler). Personally, I loved the numerology concept of this movie -- a random set of numbers that perhaps aren't as random as we thought on first look, which in itself raises more questions ... as does the Bible Code -- a meaningless set of letters and numbers that form words and meanings that can be found on any written page and book, while people see precisely what they want to see? Or something else that is far more compelling and meaningful?). There are many subtleties in this movie, far more than first meets the eye, and several that I didn't pick up on until the second viewing, including the significance of the boy's hearing problem (obviously, I'm not the only one to miss this).I also liked the movie's pace, allowing the tension to escalate as each piece of the puzzle was laid out before us. All in all, I'm happy to have this film in my fledgling blu-ray library. To me it is an impressive film that allows the viewer to search his or her own mind on the questions it tries to raise. I find this a strength, while for others it's a weakness -- there is a wide difference of opinion in the merits of this film, which I think was the director's intent all along.For what it is worth, I viewed this movie on an LN40B630 Samsung HDTV, using an Oppo BDP-83 blu-ray player and a Zvox 2.1 sound system. So what's my rating? Times have changed, and I don't think I should just rate the movie, but also the blu-ray qualities as well. That being said, here are my ratings:Video = a solid 9 out of 10 (some absolutely gorgeous and pristine scenes as well as some really stunning "wow" moments).Audio = 8 out of 10 (even without a 5.1 or 7.1 system, I was impressed with the audio track -- it enhanced the entire movie experience).Movie = a very solid 8 out of 10 (a very good movie, but a bit problematic in areas because of the purposely conceived ambiguities, which created its own plot hole). And while the child actors were no Haley Joel Osment or Dakota Fanning, I felt they did a credible job. All-in-all, a much maligned movie (as was 2001 and AI) that I felt wasn't given nearly the credit it deserves. BTW, and just to let people know where I'm coming from, I thought 2001 was a 5-star classic, while AI was a near-classic and a wonderful tribute to Kubrick.