Unknown

Unknown

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

With Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Bruno Ganz,

Aiden Quinn, and Frank Langella

“Unknown” begins as an exceptionally good looking American couple arrives in Berlin. They check into their high-end hotel. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) is there to attend an important biotechnology conference, but he has left his briefcase at the airport. He leaves his lovely blond wife Elizabeth (January Jones)at the hotel and grabs a cab to the airport to retrieve the missing case.

There is an accident en route and the cab dramatically careens off a bridge into a river. The female, illegal alien, Bosnian cab driver Gina (Diane Kruger) heroically pulls him out of the rapidly sinking taxicab—then things begin to go terribly wrong.

Harris’s heart stops for a few minutes. He is resuscitated and awakens from a four-day coma in a Berlin hospital. He has no identifying documents; they are inside that briefcase. He rather quickly figures out who he is and goes to the hotel where a fancy reception for the conference is taking place. He approaches Elizabeth, but she does not know him. And there is a man with her who claims he is Martin Harris. 

Not only that, but nobody believes he is who he says he is. The baffled and bedraggled Dr. Harris is forced to roam Berlin, with no ID or passport, trying to figure out  the truth of what has happened. He enlists the help of Gina, the Bosnian cab driver, and Ernst Jurgen, a former STASI agent for the East Berlin Communist government to help him find the pieces to his identity puzzle. You, the viewer, are left to figure out if Harris is who he thinks he is or if he indeed has amnesia.

   From then on, the plot couldn’t be more twisted or convoluted. It would spoil the fun to reveal any of those twists. “Unknown” is entertaining if you do not focus on the implausibilities, of which there are many.

                The film has expertly choreographed car chases aplenty. See the wheelies, cars turning in perfect synchronization, even cars chasing in reverse! Sinister figures with guns drawn are in pursuit on foot! Innocent people are killed! There is even a self-inflicted cyanide poisoning.

                Liam Neeson plays the role of the bewildered, innocent man very capably and very seriously. Bruno Ganz is excellent as the retired STASI agent. January Jones is a little flat in her role; however, once you know the plot twists, you may understand why she is so one dimensional. The other performances are fine, it is just that the actors are asked to perform in a film that lacks any logic or credibility. You can’t take this film seriously.

                That said, director Collet Serra’s film is very slick and watchable, dealing with high-stakes terrorism. You wonder if Martin Harris is nuts or if the world is nuts and you are kept guessing until everything is explained in the final scenes. “Unknown” is handsomely filmed and loaded with action. I call it farfetched fun.