146 out of 151 people found the following review helpful:

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Get in the know..

poochini from , 23rd March, 2009

Before seeing this i thought it'd be in the same vain as 'day after tomorrow', 'independance day''armageddon'...er...'meteor'. But this film sort of flits between those, an erie ghost story like 'Number 23' ,and an alien mega fest, like the end of the last Indianna Jones.Now i appriciate that you may not have liked 23, or Indie 4, because neither did i. But this is slightly better for a few reasons. The action sequences in the film are spectacular, and the whole doomsday thing always has me thinking about a film weeks after iv watched it. Planes and trains crashing with an impending armageddon, you'll be chewing popcorn untill it comes out of your ears. Also there is the ghost story which, unlike '23', is actually real (within the realms of the film) and does actually do well in giving you a mild case of the heeby jeebies. However the explanation behind it left me a little deflated at the end(you may or may not agree). But aside from that, and an inexplicable feeling of irritation everytime the leading lady in on camera, its quite a good film to be curled up with. Definatly not the feel good film of the year, and maybe it could have picked 1 genre and stuck to it, but definatly worthy of the 3 stars and 2 hours of your time. Just so you know.

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27 out of 28 people found the following review helpful:

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You're Better Off "NOT KNOWING"!

Waino from , 1st April, 2009

The premise of the film or at least from the trailer seems to be an interesting sci-fi / paranormal thriller and to be honest for the first 2/3 of the film you will not be disappointed, with its mix of story and character development and combination of action creepiness and reasonable SFX leaves you on the edge of the cinema seat. The plot from then on just degenerates or more like spirals exponentially out of control into a B movie mediocrity as does the SFX. It's a film with promise but then it seems its half finished with the script writer deciding to take the easy and quite honestly completely ludicrous way out - your suspension of disbelief WILL be sorely tested. Looking at everyone's faces coming out of the theatre people with disappointed faces saying 'what the f*&^%!' I had to laugh. Cage had said in a interview that it was make you think about science and religion; yet he must have been watching a different ending or even film as the film leaves no unanswered questions as to the fate of the main characters or any questions to even ask except one - WHY DID I SPEND £4.50? One lesson I did learn from this though - is don't watch a film based solely on the trailer. SPOILERS FOLLOW! ****HERE BE SPOILERS DO NOT READ**** For starters the scientific cause of 'the end' is completely fabricated boll ocks 'Super Sun Flare' would not be able to do what it did in the film - at most, our gadgets would stop working and we'd be sent back to the dark ages - Google it! Secondly the numbers all relate to events in the US - ok so it appears there were several children from all over the planet but I'm sure there are greater disasters than that kill a handful of people in a hotel fire in the US - and how does this link at all to EE why bother telling everyone of all these other so called 'disasters' as they are completely pointless and only the chosen get to survive anyway? Thirdly aliens as angels, only those who hear the call can be saved and the rapture!? - sounds like this film is Evangelical Christian Theology (because mainstream christianity i.e. Orth, RC and CofE doesn't beleive in that) with a scientific explanation OR Scientology Propaganda - Xenu indeed! Fourthly the reason why Nicholas Cage you weren't able to save the world is because you're not Keanu 'I am Jesus' Reeves.

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18 out of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Horse S**t

alexamoran from , 1st April, 2009

dont bother wish i hadn't!! average action, poor weak story line which doesnt flow! ending is riddiculous!!

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17 out of 18 people found the following review helpful:

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Noah's Ark!

A Customer from SW London, 28th March, 2009

First of all, let me say the special effects are over the top, but very good. In a nutshell this is a movie about the inevitable (in the film it is anyway) annihilation of humankind by forces beyond our control. I would have given this movie a higher score but the end was way too out there for me to believe even in the context of the story. And of course the memorable little scene of the two kids and their bunnies being chosen (cause they were the ones that heard the whispers from strange blonde men that could be intrepreted as aliens or divine consciousness.Proyas has left this open to interpretation, I think) to leave the planet to start human life elsewhere was very 'Noah's Ark'-ish.The film has a little for everyone however, Cage is getting old and his acting is getting dowright wooden and contrived. Contrary to what one reviewer said, I didn't find the movie plot very original, however, it did have very interesting twists and turns which I enjoyed. An entertaining film to watch once, but not one I'd ever bother to watch a second or third time.

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Truely Awful

Immortal from , 5th November, 2009

This film had so much going for it, action suspense & an interesting plot... which was all ruined by the ending, awful editing & CGI that would of looked poor in the 1980s. To say it's appalling is an understatement. First lets look at the ending: Put simply it has obviously been written by someone who's read the bible too much. The innocent are spared the wrath of God & returned to the garden of eden by angels, whilst the sinners (ie 99.9% of the population) burn in hell. Blah Blah Blah. Utter drivel. As for the editing: The plane crash is a perfect example. A police officer looks behind Nicholas Cage, sees the plane & runs. Fair enough, except the plane comes from Cage's left so what was the police officer looking at? The CGI is unbelievably bad. The plane itself looks like something from a VERY old version of flight simulator. The spinning ball thing at the end is also reminiscent of a very old computer game & is so badly superimposed it is laughable This could (and should) of been a great film. But terrible writing & editing leave you feeling robbed. I seriously considered demanding my money back as compensation for the time I'd wasted

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spoiler?

kaiserhogg from , 5th November, 2009

Looking at some of the other low scoring reviews, most of which seem to contain spoilers, it might be shrewd to infer that the film goes down hill a bit at the end in it's rather weak attempt to tie up what could have been an interesting exploration of free will and determinism, or randomness... or however Nicholas Cage explains it... in his droll slightly unconvincing roll as an MIT Professor.... Any hoo.. The action sequences are indeed very good. But the action sequences do not maketh the film..so said someone once.. me.. just then... In fact it was a bit of a waste of good action sequences to put them in amongst such a third rate story line.

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knowing

scuttler from , 4th November, 2009

enjoyed this film held my interest

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Such a shame...

Mk1 from , 4th November, 2009

This was a tough film to rate in terms of stars. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the film - the story and plot were shaping up very well and the action scenes are nothing short of stunning. The direction and cinematography are brilliant for the most part and the acting is not bad either. What really lets this film down, as with so many others like it, is that it tries to explain itself too much. I find it irritating when movies give you no chance to imagine what happened next or fill in any blanks for yourself and this is what ends up happening here. It insists on explaining away every little detail to give closure for the viewer but unfortunately this viewer didn't want closure, especially not the kind I got. I won't spoil it but part of the twist in the film is just downright pathetic - the writers either had no imagination at all or the studio bosses forced the maker's hand in going for a blatantly unoriginal yet typically 'Hollywood blockbuster' movie ending. For me, this totally ruined what the film had built up so far in the way of suspense and intrigue. Such a shame, I really thought it had potential to begin with but overall I just found it disappointing.

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