"Knowing" Trailer - Director of "The Crow" Joins Nicolas Cage's Downward Slump

By: Adam Quigley Posted: July 4, 2008

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Why, Alex Proyas, why? After you did such great work on The Crow and the vastly underrated masterpiece Dark City, it was obvious you had a lot of talent. Then you did I, Robot, which was entertaining enough, but fell more in line with all that other generic Hollywood crap that you had already proven yourself so much better than. That was just one movie though, so I was able to forgive you. The studio was probably pressuring you to make the film more commercially viable, so I imagine you did the best you could with the freedom you had. Perfectly understandable.

After watching the teaser trailer for your latest film, however, I'm not feeling so reasonable. What the hell, man? You've been out of the game for five years, and this is what you choose to come back with? A movie that looks like an eye-rolling mix of The Number 23 and The Happening, and is starring Nicolas Cage, a man whose last four films included Ghost Rider, Next, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and The Wicker Man? Honestly, if I didn't see your name attached to this thing, I would have never believed it was you directing it. Films like this should be left to the Brett Ratner's of the world; not the Alex Proyas'. You're too good for this material.

You can also watch the trailer in High Definition.

Perhaps I'm judging too harshly. Despite the trailer making the storyline look laughably ridiculous, the premise is intriguing enough that strong execution could make it work. I suppose there's a smidgen of a chance that the film could turn out to be decent entertainment. I don't know if I'm saying that because I actually believe it, or simply because I really want Alex Proyas to make another good movie. Maybe a little of both.

[Source IGN]