I don’t really know if I should be reviewing this film, it’s been out for a while and it’s a bit of a minefield as far as spoilers are concerned. Oh well, I suppose you might want to rent it when it comes out on DVD or something so let’s dig into a very vague review of Unknown!
Unknown is that new film Liam Neeson is in that you probably saw a trailer for, thought “that looks quite interesting” and then immediately forgot about because it hasn’t been all that heavily advertised compared to Mars needs moms and all the other trash that’s come out recently. The trailer in question shows a confused Neeson being told by his wife that she has no idea who he is and that her husband is this other gentleman right here, so would you kindly piss off and be crazy somewhere else? And also the usual trailer white noise of car chases and the like. That’s a fairly good summery of the first act of this film. Neeson awakes from a coma after a traffic accident to discover that he has some memory loss and all the memories he does have appear to be contradicted by the facts. So he must be confused right? He suffered some more serious trauma in the crash than it at first appeared and so he thought he was someone he wasn’t. But hold on, didn’t he know a bit too much about this prominent bio technology expert he apparently isn’t for that to be the case? Hmm...
So it’s a psychological thriller then? Yes it is. It’s a pretty good one actually, the action moves fast, the characters never seem too stupid (something I think far too many films of this genre are guilty of) For example when Neeson storms the hotel at the start of the film to find his wife, the security don’t immediately throw him out but instead do things like check the website of the university he claims to be from to see if he looks anything like who he’s supposed to be. When He can’t prove who he is Liam phones a friend to try and get someone to vouch for him. When Neeson (I would call him something else to switch this up but I’ve forgotten his characters name in this film. I’ll call him Ra’s al Ghul from now on) goes back to the hotel later after he learns SPOILERS and goes to tell them about the SPOILERS he SPOILERS they don’t believe him at first but he tells them to check their SPOILERS and they actually give him a chance and see that he really is a SPOILERS and react accordingly.
People do things I would think of doing in this crazy situation and that makes the film hang together much better than similar films where far too often the protagonist is the only character with any sense. Also as is inevitable with these types of stories there is a twist and this one’s actually quite smart and fits in well with the rest of the story. Though truth be told I did guess it about 20 minutes before I was supposed to, But I put that down to the fact that if you’re paying attention to the plot and looking out for one you should be able to guess any given plot twist. And hey, at least I didn’t guess this one anything like as quick as in Righteous Kill (Robert De Niro and Al Pacino play the only two characters with any screen time and the entire film paints De Niro as the killer VERY OVERTLY. Guess who the killer is guys!)
Bottom line: Unknown is probably the smartest film on at the moment. It isn’t going to rock anyone’s world too much but it’s an intelligent and mature film (by which I mean it takes itself fairly seriously, not that it’s porn) at a time when the average Hollywood movie is about as smart as George W. Bush and as mature as any given star of My Super Sweet Sixteen.
Also its set in Germany for some reason but Ra’s al Ghul still plays an American even though he’s from Northern Ireland.
WATCH IT.
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