Unknown Movie Review

Unknown is your run of the mill action/thriller film with some cool ideas implicated into the plot.    

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

Shutter Island Review

"Shutter Island is one of the best psychological thrillers since the Hitchcock years."

I will start of saying that I was deeply worried that Shutter Island would be a movie with an "A" list director (Martin Scorsese) and cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo) working on a "B" movie plot. This mix hardly ever works. The movie starts out feeling like a "B" movie but changes to the classic Alfred Hitchcock feel. I was interested in that feeling coming from a acclaimed drama/crime director. The feeling intensified all throughout the story to the point of me wanting to go watch some classic Hitchcock films afterward.

The acting and atmosphere were the final pieces of the puzzle for me liking the film in general. Leo gave it everything he had and it showed. There is a major scene close to the end that really showed just how good of an actor he is when he has good direction. The emotion that he puts on throughout is absolutely stunning because he will be serious and tough then in the next he switches to the person that you feel sympathy for him. As for the atmosphere, It was amazing. I have to give a hand to Scorsese for making it look and sound extraordinary. The setting could have been hard to get just right, but he did it with the amazing cinematography to give it that classic film from 50s feel. He really had a great crew for almost every aspect of production.

My favorite part that added to the atmosphere was the fascinating music score. The first scene on the island made me feel excited to watch it because they had chosen this eerie song that gave off this odd sensation of fear. The score, from what I heard, wasn't made for use in this movie, but he had chosen songs that would add to the period feel. I am so glad he made that decision because he succeeded when it started until it ended. I will say their is that one scene that had beautiful acting and sound. The song made me get into the film and feel his pain as it was happening.

It does kill me to say that their only major weakness to me was the writer. No, not the writer of the book, but the film adaptation. The writer, Laeta Kalogridis, has never done anything I would say is good with a resume of Pathfinder, Birds of Prey, and Alexander. Even with the great direction, acting and story it was because of the abundance of dreams that flashbacks killed the momentum the story. The plot is still great even with those problems. The psychological aspect is still great with messing with your mind, but yet some will figure it out and some won't and thats the truth. They want you to think something else is going to happen, then they throw a "winger" in the mix and makes you want to say "Wait.....what is going on?". The ending line still has me thinking.

I suggest you see this film if you like psychological thrillers, Leonardo DiCaprio, and a good all-around cast and crew. 

92 out of 100

Benjamin Myers