Movie Review: Unknown

A lot of feature films lately have dealt with identity. Many of them have dealt with losing it in an isolating way, where the main character tries to regain what they've lost somehow. Unknown tries to take this familiar theme, and add a little bit of Hitchcock to make things interesting. While it is intriguing in spurts, overall, the movie falls flat.

The film follows a Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson), a man who travels with his wife Liz (January Jones) to Berlin for an environmental convention. Shortly after they arrive, Harris is in a taxi cab accident, causing him to slip into a coma. When he awakes and tracks down his wife (who, strangely, hasn't been looking for him), she does not know who he is. On top of that, he confronts her while she is at a party with another man claiming to be Martin Harris. Martin, confused and alone, sets out to find out what exactly is happening to him and his wife, with the help from the woman who drove the taxi during his accident, Gina (Diane Kruger), and private investigator Ernst (Bruno Ganz).

That's about all I can (or should) say about the film's plot. This is really the type of film that if you want to see it, it's best to know as little about it as possible. However, despite this, the film falters on plenty of different levels. Many people have claimed Unknown to simply be Taken: Part 2. Which, in many ways, it is. But it should be noted that Unknown is more of a thriller than an action flick. Harris is trying to find his identity, which takes more putting puzzle pieces together than kicking ass to get to the conclusion.

"Im sorry no one knows you." "Yeah, me too."

Unkown falters once it deviates from its thriller like plot into more of an action flick for the final act. While it was inevitable that the film was going to take this turn, there was hope that it wouldn't. The first two acts, despite their flaws, were intriguing and kept the audience interested to see exactly how the film would reach its conclusion. When it does come to the third act, and Harris finds out the truth, it is disappointingly dull, to be honest. I was hoping the filmmakers would be able to create a conclusion that would be at once interesting and somewhat original. Instead, its no different than plenty of films we've seen in the past.

With that being said, many of the actors look like they didn't want to be here. January Jones looks bored in many of her scenes, hoping to cash her paycheck and move back to Mad Men, where she knows she shines. Neeson, however, does his best. He tries to keep things as serious and dramatic as he can, which doesn't turn into a good thing all the time. Too many of his lines are eye-roll inducing, and his facial scrunches and ticks are laughable. There are also many questions that arise throughout the film that I really can't get into in a basic review. Questions about the intelligence of security officers, and hotel security in general, to say the least.

While Unknown could have been an intriguing thriller, it suffers from trying to be what it's not, an action film. Neeson tries hard to make the film work, but a silly script and uninspired third act weigh the film down too much for it to be anything worth recommending.

Grade: C