Unknown movie review: Unknown is a solid thriller that overcomes its familiar storyline. It boasts a sterling performance by Liam Neeson and will keep you entertained.
(3.5 out of 5 stars)
Bad guys never learn. You don’t want to tick off Liam Neeson. As in “Taken”, Neeson is on the warpath in “Unknown”. This time he doesn’t even know who he is.
“Unknown” isn’t particularly original or daring in any way. But it does keep your interest and will give you the requisite thrills required for the genre.
Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris who is in Berlin for a biotech summit. Martin is with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones lovely as ever) and they are looking forward to the summit and spending some quality time together. After reaching their hotel, Martin finds out his briefcase has been left at the airport. He races back to the airport in a cab driven by Gina (a glammed down Diane Kruger). Unfortunately for the duo, they get into a major accident. Martin wakes from a coma days later in the hospital.
This is where the paranoia begins and Neeson earns his paycheck. Martin is frantic to get back to the hotel because he is worried about his wife left alone in a foreign land. You get a strange inkling in your mind that something isn’t quite right though. Martin did not have any visitors while he was in a coma. Surely his wife would have scoured the hospitals when he didn’t return in a timely fashion?
Martin does return to the hotel and there is trouble right off the bat. Martin does not have any identification and the hotel personnel are giving him grief about it. He does spot his wife in the conference room, but they are reticent to let him in. Eventually they relent and he goes up to his wife to clear up matters. Elizabeth though states she doesn’t know this man and another man comes up claiming to be Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).
You may be saying right now that this plot seems awfully familiar. It’s the whole guy loses his memory and tries to find out what is real about his life. The movie is guilty as charged. It will all depend on the execution and this is where the film gets it right.
Neeson is a likable actor that you can root for. He has the grizzled face and steely determination that is appealing. Neeson does angry quite well and this is put to the test on a number of occasions. Martin tries to piece together what is going on and how to rectify the situation. He has flashbacks of happier times with his wife. What does it all mean? He gets help in this quest from Gina and a former Stasi member named Ernst (Bruno Ganz who was brilliant in “Downfall”). At first Martin has a hard time finding Gina. She is an illegal immigrant and didn’t want any trouble from the wreck. Gina has empathy for Martin’s plight and situation. Martin enlists Ernst in getting to the bottom of this mystery.
While all this is happening, several people are looking to kill Martin. This is where “Unknown” has some missteps. They could have easily killed him early on. Of course then the movie would have ended abruptly and you wouldn’t have had all these nifty car chase scenes through picturesque and snowy Berlin. The decision to film in Berlin was a good one. It is beautiful to look at, while also featuring the dark menace of the city’s troubled past. There was a striking shot of a tank on the side of the road.
A question that nagged at me throughout “Unknown” was how in the world they could fit all the pieces together? Director Jaume Collet-Serra (“Orphan”) and screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell somehow make it more plausible as we get to the end. You start to make sense of the accident, Martin’s keen driving skills and the end game. The twists and turns do not come out of left field. This is important to note since the movie easily could have been a train wreck with different screenplay choices.
“Unknown” is a solid thriller that overcomes its familiar storyline. It boasts a sterling performance by Liam Neeson and will keep you entertained.
More on Unknown on MovieJungle.com:
Genre/s: Thriller Action Drama
Release Date/s: February 18, 2011 (Showtimes & Tickets)
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Company: Dark Castle
Official Site: http://unknownmovie.warnerbros.com/
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence and action, and brief sexual content
Alternate Titles: Unknown White Male, Unknown Identity
CAST and CREW FOR Unknown
Starring: Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch
Directed By: Jaume Collet-Serra
Written By: Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell based on the novel "Out of My Head" by Didier Van Cauwelaert
Produced By: Joel Silver, Leonard Goldberg