(24 May 2012)

A Nice Thriller!

This review is from: Unknown [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I enjoyed this one. No this isn't Taken, but it was still very good. The blu ray looks fantastic as well. I am a big fan of Liam in any movie and this does not dissapoint.

DarkVulcan29 (24 May 2012)

Solid thriller

Dr. Martin Harris(Liam Neeson)and his beautiful wife Elizabeth(MadMens, January Jones) are flying to Berlin for a conference. When theyget to the hotel, Martin realizes that he forgot a suitcase from theairport, so when he takes a cab back to the airport, he quickly getsinto a car accident. Martin wakes up in the hospital, and discovershe's been in coma for four days, and remembers very little abouthimself. When he gets out of the hospital, and gets back to the hotel,to see his wife, she doesn't seem to know who he is, and anotherman(Aiden Quinn) takes his place. So is Martin going nuts, or is therea conspiracy going on here? A very solid thriller, that is intense has it goes on, keeps buildingto an awesome climax. Performances by Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger,January Jones and Aiden Quinn don't disappoint. If you are looking fora thriller that tops Taken(2008) a little, then give Unknown a look.

(22 May 2012)

Fine Action/Suspense Flick -- Except for the Political Agenda at the End

I enjoyed Unkown until the end. I even enjoyed it close to the end when the truth about Neeson's character (Dr. Martin Harris, in Berlin for a biotechnology conference) comes out, up until the rationale and justification for all this sturm and drang occurs. Then I got disgusted with the Hollywood agenda. But more on that at the end of THIS review.Dr. Martin Harris, in Berlin with his wife, is in an auto accident in a taxi, nearly dies, and comes out of a coma. At that point he's "unknown." His wife doesn't know him any more and she's with another guy who is Dr. Martin Harris (played by Aiden Quinn), who has all the proper papers! Neeson's character has absolutely zero papers to prove he is really Dr. Harris. He then starts running all over Berlin trying to figure out who he is and avoid getting killed by some shady ruthless guys. The plot is full of suspense and fear. I like the "Urban Euro feel" to the movie when Harris, played well by Neeson, befriends Gina the taxi driver (who is an illegal immigrant from Eastern Europe) and runs all over Berlin trying to figure things out and avoiding the bad guys. He runs into a former member of the Stasi (E. German secret police), which only makes the confusion worse and the action more lethal. While some may find the movie plot cliched, I liked it and I was rather surprised when I learned the truth near the end, when Dr. Martin Harris finds out who he really is.(Spoiler alert below!)OK, now my rant and the part that I hate: THE CLICHED HOLLYWOOD POLITICAL AGENDA, which comes out at the end. It's in way, way too many movies! You see, corporations are evil, because they are greedy sociopathic money makers and they'll kill to get their money, according to Hollywood. Just look at "The Island" (where evil corporations make clones for body parts for evil rich), or "The Runaway Jury". Maybe the Hwood producers are projecting their own jerkiness on to other corporations, I don't know, but this movie falls into this stupid, false and cliched political agenda at the end. You see, all the action and killing in the movie is due to ....... Corporations knowing that their profits will go down when a scientist wants to donate the formula for revolutionary bio-engineered corn to the world!! So they'll murder people to keep up their profits!??? This is such BS and it's so typical of Hollywood films. You mean to tell me that a charitable scientist, funded by a Arab Prince, is going to help the world with his FREE invention, and thus is targeted by assassination by .... corporations??? You the reader, how many Fortune 500 corporations do you know that directly pay assassins to knock off their competitors (and saying that criminal drug cartels are part of the Fortune 500 is cheating)? Try ZERO. That's because they are run by people who either are mostly good, or at least do not want to go to jail. The premise of Unknown just doesn't ring true.Look at the world's organized killings & bombings -- a high percent by Islamic terrorists, a high percent by Mafiosias and Drug gangs, and perhaps another big chunk by Communists & dictators; and some in war zones. But Islamic terrorists and Mexican drug kingpins are OFF LIMITS -- non-PC!! -- to the Hollywood crowd. So the makers of Unknown pin the blame on some corporation that wants to kill the saintly, selfless scientist who is going to save the world for free. B. S. ! It made all the good plot elements sour for me. It's a conspiracy theory that rings false, just like the paranoid theory that "we would have had electric cars decades ago but the evil oil companies stopped them." Doesn't wash with me. The ending ruined the first 99% of the movie for me.

jmcfrancis (22 May 2012)

Smart and lean

Comparisons with Taken, Liam Neeson's action tour de force, are bothapt and improper. This is much more of a thriller, where a doctor wakesfrom a coma to find that only he believes who he is. Thanks to how thefilm start, so does the audience and the script smartly makes you doubtthe main character after a while.But this is not a mystery film and it soon cranks up the dials,converting into a pseudo-action movie that is just on the border ofbelievable. A lot of this goes to Neeson, whose worst talent as anactor is to fake an American accent. His best, though, is his screenpresence and ability to take the audience along. Give him a well-pacedscript and he does brilliantly. And here he does brilliantly. Even ifyou see the twist coming, you'll enjoy the ride.

moviemania513 (21 May 2012)

Good movie, very mind blowing

"Unknown" is a 2011 thriller film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra andstarring Liam Neeson as Dr. Martin Harris, a doctor who flies to Berlinwith his wife Liz (January Jones) for a summit. Suddenly, he forgets abrief case at the airport when he arrives at the hotel. On the wayback, he and the cab driver (Diane Kruger) get into an accident, andHarris is placed in a coma for four days and wakes up and is suddenlyunknown by everyone, including Liz. He sets out to prove who he is.I enjoyed the film because I thought it was thrilling and it wasmind-blowing too. It didn't move as quick as "Taken" did, but it stillproved to be a good movie. Neeson's character has the same personalityand he proves it both times. The film put out a lot of questions andmade me think but I answered them all. I would definitely recommendthis. I also liked the twist in the ending.

Justin Chang (21 May 2012)

Beyond the occasional plot frissons and juicy supporting turns, it's an emotionally and psychologically threadbare exercise.

Alan Jones (20 May 2012)

Unravelling the jigsaw clues is a lot of fun, while the changes rung during the familiar ticking-bomb countdown finale marks Collet-Serra as a genuinely gifted genre specialist.

Ed Whitfield (19 May 2012)

In a bloodless scene between two old men, there's more pathos and tension... than in any of the hyper-kinetic fight scenes or car chases that pad out the rest of the running time.

buzzbruin (17 May 2012)

A terrible awful movie

My wife felt this is one of the worst films we have ever seen, I agree.I am tired of Hollywood whiz and bang and this was the worst. Car aftercar after car was destroyed (yawn) and the plot line was repeated overand over and over again. The ending was stupid made no sense whatsoeverand as usual in Hollywood action films NONE of the characters weregiven any background and the writing was simply horrendous. Taken was amildly enjoyable thriller, but this was just garbage. Neeson had aparticular profession but seemed to lack any knowledge when pressed foranswers. This is just one of the stupid aspects of this god-awful filmand the crash scenes were very poorly executed. We both felt that thismovie should contain a warning about it--do not waste a precious 2hours of your life on this piece of absolute crap.

Tony Medley (17 May 2012)

...a non-stop, high tension thriller that doesn't let up until the end.

Simon Gallagher (16 May 2012)

Unknown isn't offensive at all, but it isn't startlingly good either: it is a near-perfect popcorn thriller that convinces of its story despite some fairly ludicrous plot shifts and an ultimately very self-serving resolution.

Simon (15 May 2012)

A thriller that stays mostly on the run...

This film was supposed to be the hit that outsmarted "Taken". Unfortunately, despite the interesting plot and fine script, it cant beat the direction and Neeson's vigilante styled performance in "Taken". Still although, this movie delivered in both a thriller that left you unknown untill the climax and a worthy film that proves Neeson's still got the moves. If you liked "Taken", "The Bourne Identity", and other movies like them you should defenitely check this one out but dont expect a better film than the rest. All that'll leave you satisfied will be the thrillimg suspense of Dr. Martin Harris's true identity...

annaD (13 May 2012)

It has been already done...and better

As far as the movie goes, it was OK, we have Diane Kruger with aRussian accent, we have Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson. But this ideahas been done before way better. Anyone remember 'Total Recall'? Thismovie was like that, but lamer. I gave this movie such a poor ratingbecause by the half of it I knew, as well as my boyfriend, what wasgoing to happen. So, if the plot doesn't hold any surprises, plus itrecycles an old idea hopping that no one will remember and the actionscenes are pretty weak(not to mention few, all involving taxis), then Isay it is not worth watching...at the cinema anyway. And I also have aproblem with the unnecessary killing of bystanders, which most of thetimes simply doesn't make sense(the bed guys kill anyone they meet butsomehow they hesitate when it comes to Diane Kruger's character).

Smoke (12 May 2012)

Out There...

The story started off pretty good but then it went completely left. It kind of turned me off because it became farfetched and unbelievable. Had it not been for that, this probably would of been a good movie.

Neil Rosen (11 May 2012)

It's the kind of movie that when it comes on HBO or Showtime, it'll be a semi-satisfying diversion, that despite its implausibility, will fit the bill, But it's definitely not worth full price at the box office.

(10 May 2012)

...and into the river we'd drive...

Neeson, introduced as Dr.Martin Harris, visiting biologist from a reputed US university, finds himself with partial amnesia in wintry Berlin,after a taxi accident, his place as husband of the blond beauty in posh Adlon Hotel taken by Aydan Quinn, and his Liz denying him. Quinn inserted in all elements of Neeson's life: the conference, websites, photos, down to Quinn remembering Neeson's private phone calls to third parties... Total identity theft! But how can that be, given that the accident was hardly planned or predictable?Diane Krüger as illegal immigrant from Bosnia, driving taxi without driving licence. Bruno Ganz, from Der Untergang and The Reader, as former Stasi officer, now private eye. Sebastian Koch, from Das Leben der Anderen, as local Nobel genius. Frank Langhella as surprise near the end...All in all a strong cast.For a long time I thought the plot is totally implausible. Then it turned out that it wasn't. Surprise is always good in a thriller. The thriller elements include science results theft and political assassination.The plot does have some holes, but not the huge one that one thinks one sees for a long time. That hole walks away, miraculously. Just trust me and stay till the end. The film also has some small technicality flaws, language related and Berlin related, but not too many. I expected a rather bad film and was positively surprised. Not so bad after all, with some definitely strong moments and sequences. For a thriller. Should be 3.5 stars.

Leonard Maltin (09 May 2012)

In the French-made, English-language sleeper Taken, Liam Neeson was a former CIA operative who was (outlandishly) able to thwart a sex-trafficking ring. Audiences responded vociferously to his take-charge character. His latest film, Unknown...

(09 May 2012)

An interesting spy-drama

I found it quite a gripping movie. I must say it was in certain aspects predictable, but a good spy movie is a rare find. You won't be disappointed if you love espionage movies.

leenarete (09 May 2012)

Could happen to You?

A lazy Saturday afternoon and I picked this movie up to catch up asLiam Neeson is one of my favorite actors. From the word go, it had myfull attention, he looked mature and attractive and the accident brokethe ice for the drama that was going to unfold. Frankly I don't likeJanuary Jones, who plays Liam's wife as Mrs Harris I didn't trust herwhen she calls out to him from the airport taxi, I knew something waswrong. Liam is playing Dr Harris or was supposed to- I will let youwatch and figure out but it was a gripping plot to the end. He comesacross Gina who is played by Diane Kruger, I saw her in IngloriousBastards. Gina helps Dr Harris unfold his true identity as she was thetaxi driver when the accident happened. After a long time, it was agood action flick for me with an investigative story. If even half ofthe biotech controversy is true then this planet is going to face manychallenges from Man who will fight to conquer nature.

sunraider (09 May 2012)

No, it's not as good as TAKEN

Despite what some critics say, this is not anywhere near as good asLiam Neeson's action/thriller from last year, TAKEN. This film takes along time to get going and, unfortunately, when it finally does wedon't care all that much because Neeson's character remains essentiallyan unknown and the plot twist renders him somewhat unsympathetic. Infact, "the twist" really left me cold. I no longer felt emotionallyconcerned with Neeson's character beyond wanting him to succeed inorder to prevent innocent people from being hurt.Although Neeson is good, Bruno Ganz steals the show as an ex-Stasi(East German secret police) officer turned private investigator whotries to help Neeson's amnesiac character find out why someone'simpersonating him. Diana Kruger is OK, too, but it's laughable tobelieve someone who looks like her (she played Helen of Troy forheaven's sake!) would be a taxi driver in Berlin, even if she were anillegal immigrant. All told, this is a fairly run-of-the-mill actionthriller.