Liam Neeson Returns To Murder More of Europe in Unknown
February 17, 2011
http://www.ugo.com/movies/unknown-review
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation – Oscar Wilde
If I am not me, then who the hell am I? – Arnold Schwarzenegger as Quaid in Total Recall
Dr. Martin Harris’ work is important. As he, played by Liam Neeson, lands in Germany with the gorgeous January Jones on his arm, he informs the customs agent he’s here for the Biotech summit, and he’s giving a presentation. When he gets to his luxury hotel and realizes his briefcase was mistakenly left at the airport, he races back to get it without even telling his wife (in the lobby) that he’s leaving. He’ll call her from the cab but – oh no! – his blackberry has no signal and - double oh no! – his cab is crashing into a river.
Saved from death by cabbie Diane Kruger (do cabbies in Germany look like Diane Kruger?) Neeson awakens after a four day coma and tries to return to his life. The problem is. . .no one recognizes him. Not his wife, not his colleagues and not Adian Quinn who claims to be . . . Dr. Martin Harris!
When all of Quinn’s documents seem to check out, and Jones denies ever having met Neeson, we are cast adrift in classic Hitchcock Wrong Man waters. Unknown’s director Jaume Collett-Serra (of the excellent Orphan) knows how to make you woozy with confusion, how to shoot a chase scene and how to squeeze the last drop of tension from a set piece. As a drugged and bound Liam Neeson stretches to grab a pair of scissors from a dead nurse’s coat before the baddie returns, I felt the audience communally strain alongside him.
As Neeson recognizes he is going bananas, he hooks up with an ex-Stasi agent played by Bruno Ganz. Collett-Serra wisely recognizes what a treasure this is and slows the picture down enough to give Ganz and his character room to breathe. This B-story of the Cold War’s last surviving infantryman could have been a movie in itself, but catching only glimpses adds a truly unique flavor to the picture.
Unknown is certainly an absurd, far-fetched thriller, and Lord knows January Jones will never be remembered for her acting ability. As a Nesson-is-a-badass-killing-all-of-Europe picture it has nothing on Taken. Still, I can’t applaud its central hook enough for actually making sense. Once the twists are revealed the “aha!s” are truly earned. How sick are you of rationalizing a movie’s absurd plot by muttering "suspend your disbelief" and giving a shrug? Unknown is a thriller you can enjoy without feeling cheated.