Unknown (2011)

Welcome to the "Cutting Room" where once a month we'll go in depth with newer released DVDs that you might have missed in theaters. This week's movie choice is Unknown.

by Ann Marie


A complex and interesting movie, Unknown introduces us to Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson, The A-Team) and his wife Elizabeth (January Jones, Pirate Radio) as they arrive in Berlin for a Biotechnology Summit.  Dr. Harris realizes he forgot his briefcase at the airport, he jumps into a cab driven by Gina (Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds) they both end up in an accident, driving off a bridge into a river. Gina rescues Dr. Harris but flees the scene.  He then is taken to the hospital where he spends four days in a coma, and upon returning to his wife he finds there is someone else impersonating him (Adian Quinn). The intrigue gets deeper as Dr. Harris recovers more memories lost in the crash, and each step he takes puts him closer to remembering who he really is.

The actors did a great job, bringing their roles to life.  The all star cast was led by Neeson, who has been enjoying his new found fame as an action hero ever since Taken.  Along side Neeson and the other leads, the supporting cast included Frank Langella (The Ninth Gate) as a longtime collegue of Dr. Harris' and the legendary actor Bruno Ganz as a PI with a past. All of the actors and actresses all helped move the story along, making the audience continue to guess between what is real and fake.

The movie does have some good scenes. One interesting technique Unknown uses is color.  When Neeson has flashbacks about his wife, those scenes use the colors of red, blue, green and yellow adding a look of oddly developed film.  It's an interesting technique and really adds to the movie's visual palette. Also during the end fight scene, the whole scene is shot in blue color. It brings a cold feel to the movie, but also adds great depth to the scene.
The main problem I had with this film was how unrealistic some of the scenes were, for instance there many continuity issues. In one scene Neeson's character was at the airport, Kruger's character gives Neeson his watch back, then walks away, but when the camera turns back to Neeson, you can see that his watch is no where in sight on screen until we are on a medium close up of him. Another scene that had issues with continuity was when Quinn's character was ready to kill Sebastian Koch (Professor Leo Brassler), Neeson grabs Quinn and flips him, and you see in that scene that Koch's character's children are no where to be seen in the scene.  This might seem pretty harsh on continuity, but too many mistakes can ruin a film sometimes.

Jaume Collet-Serra directed Unknown, but he also known for other directing horror films such as Orphan and House of Wax.  It will be interesting to see what movies he makes in the future.  Unknown was written by Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell and an adaptation from the novel Out of My Head written by Didler Van Cauwelaert.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of Liam Neeson or likes thriller movies.  The movie does keep you guessing for most of the time, but is marred by a few continuity problems.  You can find this movie already out on DVD.

© 2011 Beyond the Films