There’s really nothing wrong with a movie about the world coming to an end. It’s been done before. Knowing, however, decides that simply destroying the planet and killing all of its living organisms isn’t quite enough for its audience. Nope, it also needs extra long subplots, a love story with no purpose, and as much Nicholas Cage as one movie can hold.

The film follows astrophysicist John Koestler (Cage), whose son receives a lengthy numbered paper recently recovered from a school time capsule. Being Nicholas Cage of course, he quickly deciphers the numbers as an exact match for the date, death toll, and coordinates of every major disaster following the time capsule’s burial, with three more still to come. But even Cage can’t prevent the events from happening, and when the last numbers predict a global apocalypse, all he can do is wait and worry in this knowledge. I guess every mysterious code doesn’t lead to hidden treasure, huh Cage?

Director Alex Proyas (I, Robot) utilized many good ideas in this film, giving it a dark and compelling tone to it. The idea of knowing when disasters will happen is very intriguing, the suspense builds up perfectly for the audience and the effects are top rate.

The best part is definitely the music. Every scene has a unique score that transcends the visuals and evokes feelings of panic, sorrow and failure.

However, there are way too many subplots. Cage has an alcohol problem because his wife died. His kid uses a hearing aid. His father is a pastor who he hasn’t seen in a while. They meet the daughter of the deranged girl who wrote the numbers. And don’t even get me started on the awkward love story between the two. On top of that, the ending is hard to take seriously, which sadly takes away from the global tragedy that the movie should’ve ended with.

This movie is actually very good, and could have been spectacular if it wasn’t for all the extra stuff taking away from the main story. By the time the movie is over, chances are your perception of being alive is going to be altered a bit.

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