Unknownby Wilson Morales
Ever since Liam Neeson did wonders in the blockbuster action-thriller ‘Taken,’ his career is now headed in a better direction than actors Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger wish they had at the age 58.
With his latest film, ‘Unknown,’ Neeson’s back in the action genre and the film holds your interest for a long stretch before settling into the familiar territory of car chase scenes, gun battles, and fight sequences. While it’s not a sequel, one can see this film and call it ‘Taken’ with a twist and they wouldn’t complain. They would get their money’s worth.
Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris, a scientist who arrives in Germany with his lovely wife Elizabeth (played by January Jones) for a conference on biotechnology. As soon as they get to the hotel, Martin realizes that he left a briefcase back at the airport and has to goes back to retrieve it, forgetting to let Elizabeth know why he left her so suddenly.
As he asks the female cab driver (played by Diane Kruger) to find a shortcut to the airport to avoid traffic, a wrong turn forces the car into the river. The female driver barely pulls Martin out of the vehicle. When he wakes up four days later, he has a slight case of amnesia.
When he shows up at the hotel, there is another man (played by Aidan Quinn) who claims to be Martin Harris, and it only gets worse when he sees Elizabeth with this imposter and she looks happy. When she tells Martin that she doesn’t know him, he leaves in a state of confusion. As he attempts to solve this identity crisis, he’s also being hunted by assassins who want him dead for some reason.
With the aid of a retired German secret agent (played by Bruno Ganz) and the female cab driver who saved him, Martin’s close to putting the pieces together of this mystery, until things take another turn and he’s realizes he’s more involved than he thought he was.
With the addition of Frank Langella and some well known German actors (Sebastian Koch, Olivier Schneider), director Jaume Collet-Serra has made a vast improvement over his last film, the thriller film ‘Orphan.’ If you take out Neeson, then the film is your typical B film that one could see on cable TV, but Neeson adds adrenaline to the cliché genre.
Credit also goes to screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Simon Cromwell, who deliver a third act that isn’t so predictable, but will remind audience members of a familiar film or two.
Overall, ‘Unknown’ has plenty of action, suspense and dramatic moments to keep one engaged and satisfied.
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