Unknown

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Liam Neeson) awakes from a coma and head injury to find he has no identification, and someone has taken his place. Even worse, his wife (January Jones) doesn't seem to know who he is. Now, he must race to find the truth and prove who he is.

Review:

Tim: I had a hard time initially with Unknown. It felt like the whole thing was a cheap attempt to cash in on the success of Liam Neeson's Taken. If you look at the DVD cover, it features the line "Take back your life" and even tells fans of Taken that they'll love this movie. I understand the marketing ploy, but it created the impression that there wasn't really a reason to see this movie. In my mind, it needed to differentiate itself from that film. Compared to Taken (which I liked, but didn't love), this one isn't as good.

I was pleased to discover that despite the marketing attempt, Unknown is a different movie from that other Neeson starring turn. The film creates a pretty interesting mystery- a guy wakes up from a coma, and no one believes he's who he says he is. Someone else is claiming to be him, and most startlingly, even his wife claims to not know him. This creates some interesting drama- he is crazy or still mentally unclear after his head injury, or is something much more sinister going on? This mystery propels the movie forward. While it's not edge-of-your-seat good, it's at least somewhat interesting.

I also have to say I didn't exactly see where the movie was going. Unknown felt like a bit of a redundant movie to me. Even though I hadn't seen it, I felt like it would adhere to the genre conventions enough that it wouldn't really surprise me. I did not, however, expect the few twists at the end. I can't say I absolutely loved them, but I was pleasantly surprised there was more to this movie than I expected.

Liam Neeson is decent in the lead role, but I'd prefer he tried to challenge himself in new ways, rather than play a similar role to the one in Taken. He did a good job, although I wasn't overly impressed. I thought Diane Kruger did a decent job. She had a few very good moments, but overall, was fairly forgettable. January Jones was terrible. I've never believed she's a talented actress, and she showed some wooden, laughable acting in this film. There's a few moments where I actually cringed at how bad she was. I absolutely loved seeing Aidan Quinn (where has he been?) and I was very glad he was here. Frank Langella also does a very good job, and his presence was welcome.

As a whole, Unknown did a few things right, but ultimately didn't do enough to truly hold my attention throughout the entire film. The twists were appreciated, but weren't convincing enough for me to have enjoyed the movie. I thought it was fine- I didn't hate the movie, but I didn't exactly have a great time. This movie should have been better. You always run the risk, when comparing your movie to another, that the other will be better. That happened here.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Taken, The Grey, The Next Three Days, The A-Team, After.Life