Distributors seem to think the only way to draw a crowd in to see a movie is to let them know exactly what they are going to see; removing all suspense and dramatic tension (a recent example being the trailer for Matthew McConaughey’s new release The Lincoln Lawyer); and if you’ve had the misfortune of seeing the trailer for Unknown (seen here) you will, unfortunately, know everything that happens in the film (apart from the last 20 minutes).
Irritating trailer aside, Unknown is the story of botanist Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson, Taken); who arrives in a snowy Berlin with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones, the Mad Men star who’s soon to appear in X-Men: First Class) to give a keynote speech at an important bio-technology conference, but has his trip go downhill when, after they’ve arrived at their hotel, he realizes he’s left his briefcase on a luggage rack at the airport and immediately jumps back in a taxi to retrieve it (leaving his wife at the hotel alone), before his taxi is involved in an accident, plunges off a bridge into the frozen water below, and he’s subsequently rescued by the driver.
Waking up several days later in a hospital, Martin has suffered a severe head trauma and has oddly had no contact from his wife or colleagues. When he tracks his wife down she doesn’t recognize him, and worse still she is with another man; a man who is claiming to be her husband (played by Legends of the Fall’s Aidan Quinn), a man who says he is…(yes you guessed it) Dr. Martin Harris; a man who has all the same memories as Liam Neeson’s character; causing the general opinion to quickly decide that Neeson is suffering from post-traumatic memory loss and needs to be committed to a mental asylum; with the plot thickening still further when Neeson’s Martin finds himself pursued by a group of assassins, and has to find refuge with his taxi driver from the accident; an illegal Bosnian immigrant named Gina (Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds).
Watching Unknown is a somewhat strange experience, because it feels like a collage of successful action films from the past 5 years; it can certainly be described as post-Bourne; as its plot, setting, atmosphere, and mise-en-scene, owe a huge debt to Paul Greengrass’ Bourne Trilogy, and it’s clear this film would not have been made had it not been for the staggering Box Office success of last year’s Taken (a $200 million blockbuster which is strikingly similar to Unknown in that it features a growling Liam Neeson having to seek revenge against unlikely odds), and there’s even a touch of Inception about this film; with the lines between reality and imagination being blurred in order to push the narrative forward.
Having said this, it is an enjoyable film; especially if one does not try and pick holes in the rather threadbare plot; the action sequences (particularly the two car chases) are as good as any, and having Berlin as the setting of the film (while an obvious copy of The Bourne Supremacy) works well; with the imposing modern architecture giving a harsh and unforgiving feel to the world of the film.
Liam Neeson doesn’t stray far away from the role he had in Taken, but it’s the supporting cast who make the biggest impression; Bruno Ganz (The Downfall) has a terrific screen presence as a retired East German secret policeman who comes into contact with Harris (highlighting what a shame it is we haven’t seen him in English language cinema more often), and Diane Kruger (one of the biggest stars in Germany) also puts in a good performance as Gina, despite the director choosing to make her character Bosnian (which is an odd choice as it contributes very little to the plot, she looks incredibly German, and struggles with a tricky Balkan accent in English).
Director Jaume Collett-Serra (The Orphan, House of Wax) has an undoubted talent for choreographing fast-moving action in a visually striking way (a trade learnt in his days directing music videos; which saw the need for a visually striking aesthetic stick with him), although with Unknown he isn’t given the most original, plausible, or engrossing story to work with, and one suspects the brief from the studio before shooting must have been ‘Imagine Taken meets Bourne… now do that!’
In a month where we have The Adjustment Bureau (starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt) being released; a film which has the tagline ‘Inception meets Bourne!’; we are left wondering whether post-Bourne films like Unknown might be becoming a little tedious? Perhaps we could manage one more film where Liam Neeson is a growly action-hero hell-bent on revenge after this, but not that many more.
