★★ After the success of Taken, Liam Neeson was deemed a certified action star by Hollywood and audiences everywhere. Unknown is a result of that. Unfortunately, I didn’t find that great.
In Unknown, Liam Neeson plays Martin Harris, a scientist attending a biotech conference with his wife in Berlin. After an accident and a four day coma, Harris wakes up to find his world upside down. His wife doesn’t know him, another man is pretending to be him, and he has no way of proving that he’s the real Martin Harris. On top of that, there are these men following him who are trying to kill him. He teams up with a woman (Diane Kruger) to get to the bottom of what is happening.
One good thing about Unknown is that it’s full of suspense. It wasn’t predictable, which kept me on my toes, trying to guess what would happen next. But the unpredictability was mixed with confusion. When the film was leading up to the climax, nothing made sense. Everyone was speaking vaguely; it was practically comical. I wasn’t sure if those “serious” moments were supposed to be funny or not. Also, the plot twist isn’t one of those “Oh my God!” kinds. To be honest, I didn’t even recognize it as a plot twist until after the film when someone mentioned it as one. In addition, the effects looked bad. Usually I’m bad at finding flaws in special effects, so the fact that I noticed it in this film means something.
Liam Neeson wasn’t as intense in this one as he was in Taken. I felt there were some awkward moments with his acting. I can’t really point my finger to what it was exactly, but it was there. (And if I have to hear him yell “I am Martin Harris!” one more time…) January Jones played Harris’ wife, and she played the role fine. She really does the blank stare well. Diane Kruger is my favorite actor in the film. She’s feisty and electrifying as Harris’ sidekick. She brought the film out of its rut when her character started playing a bigger part in the film. Frank Langella makes an appearance in the film. I love Langella, but I wished he wasn’t in this film.
Unknown is rent-worthy. If I actually had to pay to see this, I would’ve been more disappointed. It really doesn’t live up to expectations, especially the ones set by just watching the trailer. I think Neeson should take a break from action films, at least until Taken 2 starts (Because that movie should be awesome).
Unknown will be in theaters February 18th.
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