It is astonishing how legendary actor Liam Neeson has been typecast as an action star so late into his career. The man is pushing 60 and can take down an entire army of bad guys with hardly any help at all. Unknown adds to his action persona, and an admirable one too.
Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) was in a car accident in Berlin, Germany. In the accident, he nearly died and was in a coma in the local hospital. He awoke after four days with some of his memory missing. Martin finds his wife and finds out she has no idea who he is and there is another man posing as him. With no form of identification and nobody confirming who he is exactly he then turns to the ideas that he is crazy or it’s all some big conspiracy.
The films plot is the weakest and strongest of the movie. The plot starts out being believable and mildly entertaining, but very promising. A man has an accident and can’t remember certain things. That is the believable aspect of the film. The stealing of the identity would be believable if reasons were given, but then again that’s what makes it a mystery/thriller. You think you just started a good mystery/thriller, but with more plot details coming into the light, it just gets very implausible. While implausible it still is very entertaining and still gives you enjoyment in the plentiful action that succumbs out of nowhere. Who knew Dr. Harris could escape from multiple bad guys multiple times and beat the crap out of them. The action was well thought out, but it sometimes would drag along and get boring. At other times the action shots would use the infamous shaky-cam technique. Filmmakers use shaky-cam to make a scene seem to have more action then it really does. While it stretches plausibility multiple times until the big final act, it was acceptable. After the big twist in unveiled, I started to take the film less seriously and almost like a parody of thrillers. Liam Neeson is one of the only things that keep it from going down into parody world. Nobody can really not take him seriously. He is, although, full of one-liners and some horrible dialogue.
The absolute best part of the film is the atmosphere and location. It’s fantastic to see Germany get featured in an American film. Berlin is a beautiful city and perfect location for a thriller/action film. I only hope more Hollywood will make more trips to Germany. The action scenes featured in the film wouldn’t be as good without the locations.
Unknown may be just another action/thriller, but it is a great ride from beginning to end. The plot may have some very unlikely plot points, although the funny part is that’s what makes it a good film.
All-in-all Unknown is an entertaining film with some implausibility, but worth a watch.
B-
Benjamin Myers
PSN ID and Gamertag: fusionman15
Email: BenMyers92@gmail.com
