UNKNOWN (Jaume Collet-Serra). 113 minutes. Some subtitles. Opens Friday (February 18). For movie times, theatres, and trailers see Movies. Rating: NNN
Unknown may be a ludicrous, paranoid action movie, but it’s a ludicrous, paranoid action movie with a decent budget and a sense of its own absurdity. And at this time of year, that has to count for something.
The set-up is straight out of an airport thriller. An unassuming Liam Neeson – in Berlin for a biotech conference – survives a car crash and wakes up after four days in a coma to discover that someone has appropriated his identity and no one believes he is who he says he is.
His wife (January Jones) says she doesn’t recognize him, and there’s another Dr. Martin Harris with her who looks an awful lot like Neeson’s old Michael Collins co-star, Aidan Quinn.
Now, personal insults aren’t just something Neeson shrugs off (you saw Taken, right?), so he must smash his way to the truth, with the help of the resourceful Bosnian cabbie (Diane Kruger) who saved his life in the first place. And that means a whole lot of property damage, a couple of inventive car chases and at least one close-quarters slugfest.
The script’s various twists and turns are just this side of ridiculous, but having directed 2009’s genuinely insane Orphan, it’s clear Jaume Collet-Serra has learned not to concern himself with such things. Instead, he plows straight on through as if he were making the next Bourne movie, assembling a top-notch technical crew and casting almost every supporting role with actual European talent.
Sebastian Koch, from The Lives Of Others, appears as a scientist Bruno Ganz twinkles delightfully as a former Stasi agent who takes an interest in Neeson’s situation. (Ganz’s one scene opposite a reliably sinister Frank Langella is enough to make me wish I were watching their movie, not Neeson’s.)
The only weak link is Jones, though given the linchpin function of her role, “weak” doesn’t really capture how bad she is. It’s hard to tell whether she’s playing an incredibly stupid person or if she’s the worst actor working in the English language. She can’t even sell a scene where she flips through the pages of a book.
