There is a new way to rip people off out there that isn't new at all. I've been telling people for years about the scam of putting up a fake ATM where people put their card in and punch in their PIN, but just get an error screen. The machine just records your card info and PIN in the computer and the fraudster picks it up later. Well, there is another type of credit card fraud that happens even more regularly because it is so much easier to commit. I give you Credit Card Skimming.
Basically a device is placed on an ATM that records your card information at the same time the ATM records it. There is also a small camera placed nearby that records you typing in your PIN. This information is then coded onto fake cards and your accounts are cleaned out. Pretty scary, huh? The scariest thing is that anybody can buy what they need to pull this scam off. It isn't like the technology to read and write on magnetic strips is controlled or something. How do you think membership cards with magnetic stripes are coded? This stuff is available to anyone with a couple hundred bucks and a desire to rip you off. I'm just putting it out there so you are aware and check out the ATMs you use before you use them. Personally I don't use ATMs partially for this very reason. In fact, if I can demagnetize my credit cards so they don't work on those at all, then I do it. I've got a 16 lb speaker magnet that works great for stuff like that.
Ok, I don't get to get out much to watch movies. If I get to see one or two a year then that is a pretty darn good year. So this year we went out to see Knowing because Jennifer and I are Nicolas Cage fans. Not huge fans or anything, but he has done thing we have liked in the past. He has also done stuff that I really hated in the past, so this was kind of his last change for me. If this movie sucked then I wasn't ever going to put any stock in a movie just because it has him in it. That includes any National Treasure sequels that are still in the pipeline.
If you liked Final Destination, then Knowing is your kind of flick. ...at least, it is your kind of flick till the very end. Think about the latest Indiana Jones movie and how the ending turned out for you there. That is kind of along the same lines with this movie. It was going fine until right at the very end. Like in the last 20 minutes or so. I guess if I really think long and hard about it then I can force myself to make some sense out of it, but I go to movies to be entertained and not to have thoughts provoked. There were just some things that didn't make sense.
Spoiler Alert! I'm going to talk specifics now, so if you haven't seen it yet and you plan to, move on. Considering the movie is probably out on DVD and has been shown on network television by the time anyone reads this, I doubt you are really in any danger.
Here are my problems... Near the end the boy starts making a list of numbers. Why is that? If the world is fixing to end, then what else is there really to predict? What were the numbers for and what was the purpose?
Next problem: Why did the aliens wait till the very last second before taking the chosen ones away? Why not just take them 50 years ago? What was the purpose of warning us if we weren't going to find out till the last week anyway? Just take the chosen and leave. Duh!
And the next problem: What was the point of even putting life on this planet if the aliens knew that it would be destroyed by a massive solar flare anyway? Seems like kind of a poor choice when you think about it.
There are a lot of things that clash with the concept of this movie. Why isn't there a cult of people who believe we were placed here by aliens? There are all these scriptures that claim a divine purpose and past of creation, but where is the truth about being planted here by an alien race? That doesn't make sense to me. Surely the new Adam and Eve of each world would have told their children about where they came from. It doesn't make sense that the religions we have today would have sprouted out of being planted by aliens.
So those are the real quandaries I have. If they would have created an alternate preset where cults did exist that claimed some of the things that happened in the end, then maybe the ending wouldn't have come out of left field so much. Instead you are left in the theater scratching your head over why this sudden change of pace. It is like an M. Night Shyamalan movie without the M. Night Shyamalan. Very odd...
The special effects were terrific though. If you ever wonder what it would be like to be at ground zero of a plane crash and what that would sound like, then now you'll have an idea. If you ever wondered what it would be like if a subway car jumped the track at full speed in New York City, then now you'll have an idea. It is a fairly intense movie that only got a PG-13 rating because I don't recall any swearing or sex. If it would have had so much as a 'damn' in there, then I'm sure they would have given it an R. It is very intense and I don't know that 13 year olds are prepared to see people running out of a crashed plane on fire.
That's another thing... When he was pulling people out of the plane and the rescue workers arrived on the scene, they just sort of pushed him out of the way. Why wouldn't they have thought he was one of the survivors? After an event like that I think you would have instantly forgotten anybody who had been in your field of vision a moment before. I don't recall him actually speaking to any of the rescue workers before the plane crashed, so why didn't they assume he was one of the victims? They may have seen him out of his truck, but there is no way they would have been that clear headed to recognize him from a distance. That was a flaw.
So between that, the numbers the boy had to write, and the whole alien theme... I don't know if I liked this movie or not. It seems like it should have been a really cool flick, but somehow I can't see myself telling that to others. You'll just have to go watch it and see for yourself. Jennifer said it sucked, but that is only because she doesn't like those kinds of movies. For the type of movie it was supposed to be, I'd say it was pretty good. The only thing I would have changed would be the aliens, but then it would have really sucked. It would have been a movie about some predictions that were decoded and unable to be stopped. In the end the planet was destroyed and everybody died, so you would have been left asking yourself what the point was. Personally, I like movies where everybody dies and there is no hero, but I'm sick that way. The way they got around this for this flick was to have the aliens save the 'chosen ones' and start over. They could have just as easily been members of that cult I said should have been established, so maybe there will be an alternate ending release on DVD or something.
So there you have it. The first movie I have ever in my life tried to review. Call it what you want. Nobody asked you to read my blog anyway. ;)
