09/04/2012: Unknown [2011]

I think it was the combination of having seen another movie called Unknown, and Liam Neeson's other action thriller Taken, that always made me think I had actually seen Liam Neeson's 2011 outing, Unknown. On top of that the movie had clearly not struck me as anything significant and so I passed happily by it, not knowing what I was missing.





In fact it turned out, I was missing quite a movie. I will say that I actually prefer Unknown to Taken, mainly because as cookie cutter as Unknown's plot seems it is going to be, the cookie cutter was thrown out the window sometime early. On top of that throw in some great actors and good action sequences and you can come out with one hell of an entertaining movie. Yes Unknown doesn't mark any revolution in the action thriller genre, but in a rather overused genre it does manage to be surprisingly fresh.

The story major elements is of course that Liam Neeson's character has suffered mental trauma and as such isn't exactly sure who he is. With the character having just as much knowledge about who he is as the watcher, the story is set up perfectly to fill us in as he searches for himself. While I was bouncing around the couple possible options for exactly who he would be, I was still never able to pin down exactly which one it was until the movie itself was ready to tell me, a rare occurrence.

The German nightclub scene has clearly always felt like home to Neeson.

I actually thought that Liam Neeson's character in Unknown shared a few similarities to Darkman, which for those who don't know, was a 1990 B-movie from Sam Raimi, and starred Neeson before he was Zeus or a member of The A-Team. The whole outcast and alone man vibe seeking answers thing was rather similar. One question I had the whole movie was of course: If you are trying to hide why the hell wouldn't you think to wear a hat? Of course the reason for that was because no one wanted to cover Neeson's attractive mug.

One of the things the director wanted from Unknown was for the movie to looks good. That is why he shoots both the beautiful parts of Germany and even the subways and alleys look good. That is also why we get all the pretty actions sequences with explosions and things getting smashed. It is also of course the reason for casting the cast.

Is graffiti always that artistic?

While I'm not sure exactly how attractive women find Liam Neeson, I imagine they like looking at him. For the men, we get Diane Kruger and January Jones. As a side note, I love reading the IMDb forums. they are just filled with people creating threads just to stir shit up, and everyone just hates on each other for a couple pages. So of course there is no surprise that there exists an Diane Kruger Vs. January Jones thread. Well, I sit firmly on the Dianne side of that fence. I'm not personally a fan of Jones' acting, while I think Kruger is talented as hell and she speaks three languages to boot. That's not to mention that Kruger is sexy as hell, especially when she throw on an accent and I just became more jealous of Joshua Jackson.

So now that I've clarified that Unknown is simply filled with beautiful people, places and things lets move on. Also if anyone want to throw me a link on the proper use of the: ' in regard to s, please do, I'm confused as hell.

I wasn't expecting a third screenshot so here is a fun one of one of my favourite and interesting characters.

 So in summary what do I say about Unknown.

1. I would have been disappointed if I had missed it. (yes I know that's impossible)
2. It has a lot of pretty things.
3. The plot is filled with twist, that are not over the top but I couldn't see coming
4. It is better than Taken
5. I love spy movies, especially during or post cold war.
6. I will probably continue to seek out Diane Kruger movies.
7. If you're trying to hide wear a god damn hat.

So if your a fan of thriller or mystery or action movies check out Uknown, and try not to confuse it with anything else, you'll kick yourself for missing it. Just remember, watch it for entertainment and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Link:
Unknown IMDb