Unknown (***)
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno
Ganz, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Mido Hamada
Seen: April 6th 2011
*** Out of ****
Unknown is a solid thriller with good action and good suspense. The problem
I have with it as that I figured out the twist very early in the movie because
of what I saw in the trailer – if you were attentive to small elements in the
trailer, it gave away the entire premise of the bait-and-switch employed to
bring this thriller to life. That said; I still enjoyed Unknown, as once again,
Liam Neeson is in top form with a strong supporting cast.
When Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife Liz (Jones) arrive in
Berlin to attend a biotechnology summit, they head straight for their hotel.
When they get there Martin realises that his briefcase was left behind, and
while his wife checks in, he immediately takes a taxi back to the airport. En route,
they end up in an accident, and the cab driver, Gina (Kruger), pulls Martin
from the wreck before he drowns but then she disappears. When Martin awakes in
hospital four days later he is obviously concerned with the whereabouts of his
wife, and books himself out of the hospital to find her. When he approaches her
at the hotel, she doesn’t recognise him and calls over her husband, Dr. Martin
Harris (Quinn), before he is escorted out of the building by security. This all
is the setup to a pretty tense and accomplished thriller, with Martin now in a
race to discover the truth before the proverbial dung hits the fan.
Along the way he is assisted/hunted/disavowed/betrayed by various
characters, chief among them his wife; the well-connected illegal immigrant Gina;
the ex-Stasi soldier Ernst Jürgen (Ganz); Rodney Cole (Langella), his
university college and friend of 15 years, and men who have “German Assassin”
written all over them from the first split-second they appear on screen. The action
is good, the revelation of certain story
elements is well-paced and Liam Neeson is great as the confused
protagonist. There is a car chase to rival the kind of chases we’ve seen in the
Bourne movies (although not quite as explosive) and Taken, another very
accomplished Neeson thriller, and the few fight-scenes are also real and abrupt
as you would expect them to be, something I believe Hollywood has managed to
get right in recent years, moving away from the old-school 10 minute punch-outs
like for instance the one at the end of Broken Arrow between John Travolta and
Christian Slater (which I did enjoy a lot in its own ridiculous over-the-top
way).
Unknown is very entertaining and might even have you frowning as you
try to figure out what is going on (that is if you didn’t watch the trailer too
attentively). It is not as action and violence heavy as Taken was, but it is a
bit stronger on intrigue. The realism of explosions add to the gritty feel of
the movie, as I specifically thought rubble hitting the street after a big
explosion (however logical) was a pretty decent touch. If you enjoyed Taken, I
can pretty much guarantee you’ll enjoy Unknown, just don’t analyse the trailer
too closely.
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