While Unknown is not a terrible movie, comparing it to Taken, Liam Neeson’s previous old man actioner, is setting the bar way too high. This is a formulaic thriller and one you’ve seen before, from the twist ending to the car chases where cops can only be bothered to respond once the carnage is complete. Unknown is one of those films you can’t help but nitpick because the plot has you bouncing between tedium and disinterest to the point the only thing left to do is find entertainment in pointing out plot-holes until the credits roll.
The story begins as Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife (“Mad Men’s” January Jones) have just arrived in Berlin and are preparing to check-in to their hotel when Martin realizes his briefcase has been left at the airport. He hails a taxi, which is obviously going to be driven by a drop dead gorgeous Bosnian illegal immigrant (played by Diane Kruger), but Martin never makes it to the airport.
As luck would have it, a rogue refrigerator bounces on the highway causing the taxi to swerve and fly off a bridge and into the river where Martin is knocked unconscious. Four days later he wakes from his coma, and while he remembers his name, his wife doesn’t remember him. It even turns out someone else is claiming to be Dr. Martin Harris. What the what?
Bad guys pursue, Martin evades and in the process of getting to the bottom of the mystery, several city blocks and at least one Berlin hotel will be destroyed. It’s just the way it goes when it comes to C-level thrillers that would best be left to DVD.
Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the film is the life Bruno Ganz (Downfall) brings to Ernst Jurgen, a former Stasi agent hired by Martin to help him get to the bottom of his identity crisis. Ganz seems to realize he’s in a bit of a ho-hum film and brings an air of playful realism to his character that’s more than welcomed.
Neeson, now 59-years-old, is also solid despite the material. This is a role he’s proven he can wrap his stubby fingers around, but no matter the performance there are some things that just can’t be improved on. Aside from plot-holes and general bad decision making, it’s the fact we watch him tell everyone he’s Martin Harris to no avail that the film grows increasingly tiresome. He has no identification, which is to say he’s nothing more than a well-dressed bum and yet he seems to think just saying, “I’m Martin Harris!” is going to get him somewhere. This guy is a menace to society and the destruction he delivers proves it.
The first big action piece is a car chase through the streets of Berlin and it seems to never end. I don’t how many times director Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan) cuts to a shot of Neeson shifting gears, but he makes sure we see every shift, swerve and stomp on that gas pedal. Vroom, vroom, crash, “Watch out for that train!” Yeah, yeah, I’ve seen it all before. Got anything new? Not even John Ottman’s score brought much tension to the metal crunching pursuit.
I did, however, take one thing away from Unknown. This was yet another lesson in how lazy storytelling can give away a film’s supposed twist long before it’s ever revealed.
You’ll begin by asking yourself why no one remembers Martin Harris is who he says he is. You’ll next be wondering why people are trying to kill him, and in-between these two questions you’ll wonder where he gained the skill to expertly race around the streets of Berlin in one of the many Mercedes placed front and center. Can this be a plot hole or is it just an aspect of the film that pretty much gives away the next 50 or so minutes?
I’ll save the answer to that last question for you to figure out for yourself, but I will add that while I am being extremely negative toward this film, it isn’t the worst I’ve seen all year. It’s just that it’s one of those movies you’d feel better about yourself if you rented it at home rather than paid top dollar to see it in the theater.
