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Liam
Neeson is the king
of one word action
movies.
Taken….Unknown….
Okay so maybe he’s
just got two to his
credit, but that’s
two more than a lot
of dudes out there.
Following up the
success of
Taken,
Neeson ventures into
Unknown.
It’s billed as a big
action flick like
Taken
because Neeson’s
attached, but it
lacks the plot and
the thrills that
Taken
had, and their star
is really the only
trait that the two
movies have in
common.
In
Unknown
Neeson stars as Dr.
Martin Harris… well
he’s pretty sure he
does anyway. On a
business trip to
Berlin, Carver gets
in a car accident
and suffers a severe
bump to the head.
After the accident,
Harris wakes up in
the hospital
shrouded in amnesia
and mystery. He
barely knows who he
is and things are
extremely fuzzy. As
he regains his
memory, Harris finds
his way back to the
hotel he was staying
at to find his wife.
Except she doesn’t
remember him and
there’s another man
pretending to be him
(Aidan Quinn.)
Harris has to figure
out what’s going on
and who’s behind the
mystery… all while
trying to recover
his memory.
What’s great about
Unknown
is a very
interesting cast.
Neeson stars and
he’s great as he
usually is. That
thick Irish brood is
intimidating and
awesome to root for.
It’s like Arnold
Schwartzenegger if
he could act… and if
he was Irish.
Neeson’s awesome and
his ability for
audiences to follow
and like him makes
the movie. In the
co-starring role
with Neeson is Diane
Kruger, most known
for her work in
National Treasure,
and she’s awesome.
Honestly she’s one
of the most likable
female leads out
there and I demand
that she be casted
in more movies.
January Jones plays
Elizabeth Harris,
Martin’s wife, and
she gets one of
those ridiculous
double acting roles
that’s tough to
grade.
Is
she acting? Is she
acting inside of
acting? I don’t get
it.
I
might not totally
get it, but she’s
decent. Aidan Quinn
is the unlikable
doof with ten lines
pretending to be
Harris. He doesn’t
get a big
opportunity to act
here. And even when
he’s supposed to be
a villain… well he’s
not… he’s Aidan
Quinn. Despite not
getting much of an
opportunity here,
like Diane Kruger… I
demand Aidan Quinn
gets more movies.
Other
than the cast,
everything is just
okay. The writing’s
not great, but it’s
not terrible either.
Director Juame
Collet-Serra is
really good at
shooting action
scenes, but not so
great on normal
scenes. For what’s
great with
Unknown,
we can say Neeson
and co. make this
watchable. But it’s
still a very
‘normal’ movie. It’s
not going to be
something memorable
enough to watch more
than once.
Looping amnesia into
a
suspense/thriller’s
been done and
perfected with the
Bourne
movies. Matt Damon
perfected that
character and those
movies were all made
and written better
than
Unknown.
That needs to be
thrown out there
first and foremost.
Those movies had
maybe twenty minutes
of boredom and
set-up and then
everything was about
Jason Bourne kicking
ass and taking
names.
Unknown
is nothing like
that. Instead of
having that twenty
minutes of set-up,
the movie is almost
all set up and we
don’t get to see
Liam Neeson break
heads until the last
quarter of the
movie. It’s a bit
disappointing. Plus
anytime there’s
amnesia involved in
any plot, (other
than Bourne) doesn’t
that mean it
automatically HAS to
suck to some degree?
It’s such a
soap-opera story
line…. Let’s just
say that I’m not
sure this one should
have been green lit
unless they went in
and said… “Liam
Neeson… action
movie… small budget”
and production said
“Sold!”
For a
blu-ray,
Unknown
is very normal as
well. Standard blu-ray
picture is always
nice, but sound
varies and
Unknown
disappoints with
sound. This blu-ray
just doesn’t take
advantage of
individual channels
very well. The
extras on this disc
are even more
disappointing. There
are only two- ‘Liam
Neeson: Known Action
Hero’
and ‘Unknown:
What is Known?’.
Both are about four
and a half minutes
and the same quotes
from cast interviews
are used in both
featurettes. Not
good work there
either. There are no
deleted scenes.
There’s no
commentary either.
For a
thriller/suspense
flick,
Unknown
is a very normal
movie. There’s not
anything
over-exciting about
it, but there’s not
really anything
terrible either.
It’s watchable, it’s
just not
re-watchable. Neeson
makes the movie as
you’d expect, but
other than him
there’s not a lot of
reasons to watch
this one. Not
terrible, not great,
Unknown
just passes.
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