First Hit: There are some very well done special effects scenes but other than that the story is very uneven and not very well told.
I must have been on a jag this weekend with science fiction adventures and kids being either extraterrestrials or invited to space.
In this film Nicolas Cage plays John Koestler, a professor at MIT, who has become disenchanted after losing his wife in a Arizona hotel fire. His son Caleb (played by Chandler Canterbury) has a hearing problem, wears a special aid that un-jumbles the words, and he misses his mom. Caleb’s school unearths a time capsule that was buried 50 years earlier.
Each of the children gets one of the envelopes, which were created by a former student. Caleb gets one by Lucinda Embry. While the other students get a picture Lucinda wrote two pages full of numbers. While in a drunken state John deciphers the numbers to determine that the numbers indicated when, where and how many people die in a major catastrophe during the last 50 years.
The young girl who wrote it predicted these events. However there are three events yet to happen so John decides to stop them. As he realized it is fruitless he also realized the last one predicts the end of the world.
However the saving grace is that his son and the granddaughter of Lucinda Embry are chosen to leave earth and start life somewhere else.
I don’t ever think I’m not watching Nicolas Cage. It isn't like he embodies a character. It is Cage reading another set of lines and in this film there is nothing strong or compelling about his character. I was impressed with many of the special effects. The plan crash and the devastation of the world was well done and impressive. Alex Proyas directs this film and there is very little exploration of the depth of the characters, it is all pretty shallow.
Overall: The radiation from a solar flare killing all on earth is a realistic phenomenon however this film does nothing to explore it.