Liam Neeson Fails to Find Missing Identity of ‘Unknown’

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Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “Unknown,” the latest thriller to attempt to turn Liam Neeson into an unusual choice for an action star (a la “Taken” and “The A-Team”), is one of those films that nearly works but falls just short of its audience’s expectations. The elements are there — a (mostly) strong ensemble, an interesting concept, an intriguing location, a promising director — but the film never comes together because the script needed one more rewrite that it just never received. “Unknown” is a near-miss with elements that might make it an entertaining rental or catch on cable but not enough personality to recommend it in theaters.

Part of the problem with “Unknown” is on a purely structural level. If you’ve seen the commercials, you know the basic concept already but, if you’ve seen a movie before, you’ll probably figure out the “twist” mere moments into this purported thriller. I won’t spoil it here, but there’s a much better version of “Unknown” that doesn’t rely so heavily on the modern need to have a final act twist to keep audiences engaged. The revelation in “Unknown” is about as predictable as the knowledge that the two stars of a romantic comedy will get together just before the credits. It’s purely a waiting game. And one that becomes less interesting as ite hero comes to realizations you’ll have come to an hour ago.

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) arrive in Berlin for an international Biotech conference. He leaves a briefcase at the airport and is forced to go back and get it while his wife checks in at their hotel. On the way there, in a cab driven by a gorgeous illegal immigrant (Diane Kruger), Harris gets into a horrible car accident and crashes into the river. After four days in a coma, he wakes up to the startling realization that no one came to look for him, including his wife. When he finds her at their hotel, she not only claims to have no idea who he is but introduces the man on her arm to security as the real Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).

Unknown
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

After a few panicked altercations, Martin starts to wonder if he’s going crazy. As he sees Quinn’s mug on the web page for his job, looks at his doppelganger’s identification, and becomes increasingly convinced that perhaps he is NOT Martin Harris, he wonders if he’s going insane. Of course, that changes when someone tries to kill him and he realizes that he’s not crazy, just a loose end. He finds the only person who might be able to put some of the puzzle pieces together in the cab driver and gets assistance from a wonderful ex-Stazi turned detective (a movie-stealing Bruno Ganz) and gets closer to the final revelation that most people in the audience will have figured out from the previews.

Neeson is effective in the lead role but the structure doesn’t give him much to work with beyond aggravated confusion. Far more effective are the great Kruger and Ganz, two actors who could make the supporting cast of nearly any film better. Kruger is stunningly beautiful and yet somehow believable as a German cab driver. That’s an accomplishment. Even better is Ganz, as a man who has seen his share of espionage and intrigue and knows how to instantly size up who’s lying to him and who’s telling the truth. Frank Langella pops up late in the film to steal a few scenes as well. One between Langella and Ganz is easily the best in the film.

Unknown
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

There’s also no denying that the film looks good. Cinematographer Flavio Labiano (“Timecrimes”) and director Jaume Collet-Serra (Liam Neeson) use Berlin expertly, choosing to shoot in winter to add to the claustrophobia of the piece. With its snowy streets and trenchcoats, “Unknown” looks like an old-fashioned thriller and the visual appeal of the film goes a long way to allowing it to be as effective as it is at times.

As for what doesn’t work about “Unknown,” let’s move beyond a truly-horrendous performance from Ms. Jones and focus on the deeper problems, all of which can be traced back to a misguided screenplay. The obvious inspiration here is Alfred Hitchcock and his tales of innocent men caught in nightmare situations or, more recently, Roman Polanski, as the film feels a lot like his “Frantic” at times. But Hitchcock knew that the audience needed to identify with his characters to care (which doesn’t happen at all here) and Polanski had a skill with paranoia that Collet-Serra does not match.

Most damagingly, the script for “Unknown” never gets past the enormous suspension of disbelief. To be blunt, even though you’re likely to figure out the twist, you still won’t believe it. The plot holes in “Unknown” are gigantic enough that when you figure out where the story of Martin Harris is going, you’ll start realizing early that it makes little to no sense. Instead of asking the questions required to get the viewer into the story of the film, all that’s left are questions as to why it doesn’t work. This is a film that doesn’t have enough action to appeal to the popcorn entertainment crowd but is too dumb to appeal to the intellectual one. And so it appeals to neither. They should have known better.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com