“Unknown” definitely gets an “A” for effort. It tries so hard to be a psychological thriller, it sometimes resembles an overenthusiastic puppy.
But like a puppy, it wastes a ton of energy chasing its own tail by throwing in twist after twist, taking the plot nowhere.
It begins harmlessly enough. Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) are in Berlin for a biotech conference. When they get to the hotel, Harris finds that he left his briefcase at the airport and takes a cab back to retrieve it. On the way back to the airport, the cab gets into an accident that leaves Harris in a coma for four days.
When Harris comes to and tries to find his wife, he finds she’s with another man, a person claiming to be — cue dramatic music — Dr. Martin Harris, with all the documentation to prove it. From there, Harris is on a mission to prove he’s not crazy and ends up uncovering a conspiracy.
It might seem as if I’ve given away the whole plot (I know when I saw all of this in the trailer, that’s what I thought too), but believe me, this is only the beginning of a movie so full of twists it would take an army of chiropractors to straighten it out.
All these turns make the film needlessly complicated, often asking you to recall things that happened five twists ago, despite not really making much of a difference in the long run. Early on in the movie, there’s a code written in a book of Harris’
that’s quite easy to figure out, though it stumps Harris for a good hour of the movie.
And when he finally does figure it out, it does nothing to help him, instead turning out to be pretty inconsequential.
Even with the weak plot, the film isn’t all bad. The performances are pretty solid.
Diane Kruger is outstanding and outshines everyone (I’d take her over Natalie Portman any day), she just needs to attach herself to a better movie. Neeson is alright, but not spectacular and January Jones nails the “pretty block of wood” role of Elizabeth Harris (which is lucky, since that is the only acting Jones seems to be capable of).
But the plot is just not up to par enough to warrant seeing “Unknown.” It’s a movie that demands your full attention, requiring you pick up on all the small details, but then fails to reward you for all your meticulous observation.
I’ll admit, I didn’t have high hopes for “Unknown” going into it. I like Neeson, despite some of the disappointing roles he’s been taking recently (“Clash of the Titans,” “The A-Team,” etc.), but frankly, “Unknown” looked like a generic thriller flick taking advantage of a weak movie market with the Oscars right around the corner.
But “Unknown” isn’t generic. It really does attempt some interesting things — and I applaud its spunk — but unfortunately, its execution continually disappoints, resulting in an ultimately forgettable movie.
