At first glance Unknown may seem like a sequel to "extra-official" Taken , the popular action movie in which Liam Neeson played an ex-secret agent in desperate search of her daughter. But not so; Unknown have moments of action, but its dense atmosphere and elliptical frame puts on a lot closer to that of Hitchcockian thrillers as Breakdown , Arlington Road o ( why not?) Memento. Of course such a comparison would only be in terms of style and subject ... not in quality. Said Liam Neeson plays this time to Dr. Martin Harris, bio-chemical expert who travels to Berlin with his wife Liz (January Jones) to participate in a scientific conference. But his plans are interrupted when Martin becomes involved in a spectacular car accident that leaves him in a coma for four days. When the scientist finally awakened mind is confused and refuses all treatment, he wants to find his wife. However, when she finds she does not recognize, and, worse, Liz is in the company of another man (Aidan Quinn) who claims to be the "real" Martin Harris! What's happening? Martin (the original) can not believe that his wife is plotting to steal your identity, but everything seems to point to that fact. Then, with the help of Gina (Diane Kruger), the cabbie who saved her life during the accident, and Jürgen Ernst (Bruno Ganz), a cunning detective with a dark past, Martin will try to get to the bottom of the mystery and recover your identity before losing her forever.
The "man without a memory" is a familiar concept in film and literature abeyance Unknown combined with the other old classic of "mistaken identity" for create an interesting and well thought out mystery, with a resolution a bit absurd but acceptable. On the technical side, the English director Jaume Collet-Serra orchestra with skill like fights, persecution automotive and moments of tense calm, allowing the actors to do their work unhindered style with excessive or redundant explanations. Unfortunately, the script feels too generic, pre-fabricated scenes we've seen better thrillers. Of course, the end seemed more or less clever, but the only surprise is offered throughout nearly two hours, so we already had enough time to get bored before the big revelation.
Actually there's not much to say about Unknown. Liam Neeson does a good job as the intelligent but confused Martin, whose cold and analytical behavior does not diminish the passion he feels for his wife, nor the desire to get it back together with her old life. Diane Kruger is attractive and functional as a "sidekick" of the protagonist, actively helping but with some reservations about the bizarre situation. And I particularly enjoyed seeing the great German actor Bruno Ganz in the role of detective Jürgen, whose past in Stasi (the dreaded German secret police during the Communist occupation) do so at the same time repulsive and highly efficient as an ally, who they suspect of everything and everyone has contacts in high levels of government, not content with easy explanations. Finally, January Jones plays the classic "Blonde Ice" Hitchcock, whose obvious appeal outside inscrutable intentions hidden.
And I think the same is true of often unknown, it is a sexy thriller, well acted and filmed, with a functional script that holds the viewer's interest despite of certain passages slow and predictable but ultimately bland balance its intrigue and action takes away identity and lets a generic flavor that did not seem very satisfactory, despite the good ending. So the best thing I can say is that this movie reminded me of European thrillers like Ghost Writer and Frantic, the worst thing I can say is that the comparison is not entirely favorable. Still Unknown serves to fill a couple of hours on a boring weekend, or from a broader perspective, could fill the months it takes to reach the inevitable sequel of Taken . However, it may be but not necessary, nor even to fans of Qui-Gon Jinn .
Rating: 6.5
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