2011 Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
An American biologist attending a conference in Berlin awakens from a coma after a car accident, only to discover that someone has taken his identity and that no one, not even his wife, believes him. With the help of an illegal immigrant and a former Stazi agent, he sets out to prove who he is and find out why people are trying to kill him.
Liam Neeson Diane Kruger January Jones Aidan Quinn Bruno Ganz Frank Langella Sebastian Koch Olivier Schneider Stipe Erceg Rainer Bock Mido Hamada Clint Dyer Karl Markovics Eva Löbau Helen Wiebensohn Adnan Maral Merle Wiebensohn Torsten Michaelis Rainer Sellien Petra Hartung Michael Baral Sanny van Heteren Marlon Putzke Herbert Olschok Karla Trippel Petra Schmidt-Schaller Annabelle Mandeng Janina Flieger Fritz Roth Show All…
Andrew Rona Joel Silver Susan Downey Peter McAleese Sarah Meyer Steve Richards Leonard Goldberg Alan J. Wands
Antony Bluff Tim Field Carl Grinter Muriel Gérard Louise Hussey Molinare Shanaullah Umerji Samantha Tracey Nick Drew Adam Howard Stuart Lashley Shailendra Swarnkar
Studio Babelsberg StudioCanal Dark Castle Entertainment Panda Productions Inc. Horticus UK Canal+ TF1 Films Production
The Box Office Bashing Season: 2003 to 2014
NEW RULE!
From now on, ANY film that features a character attempting to use their mobile phone and getting no service, especially when they're slap-bang in the middle of a large city, is immediately turned off.
FUCK OFF WITH THIS SHIT.
Although you really have to suspend your disbelief in the final act and the twist is honestly really dumb and doesn't make much sense, Unknown is still a fun and entertaining thriller. Liam Neeson delivers a great lead performance as usual and the film is always engaging. The action sequences are also alot of fun to watch and the cinematography is pretty impressive. Definitely not a great film by any means and its far from Neeson's best but this is still a solid film from him.
B
"Do you know what it feels like to become insane, doctor? It's like a war between being told who you are and knowing who you are. Which do you think wins?"
Along the lengthy line of individual action thrillers and involving twists proving to be non-stop (no pun intended) entertainment throughout the entire duration, Unknown manages to serve as a solid entry into an enjoyably everlasting series and another well-constructed hit for Jaume Collet-Serra within time well spent. As always, Liam Neeson is at the top of his superb game and constantly creates engaging thrills around the attentive craft capturing one from the very beginning.
Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra jumped on the Liam Neeson comeback bandwagon back in 2011 when he cast him in this patchy thriller with a clever twist in the tale. Neeson's renaissance as an action star following his success in the Taken films had plenty of European directors lining up with projects for the then Quinquagenarian. Neeson's backed by some impressive names in this Berlin set mystery. January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aiden Quinn, and Bruno Ganz add more to proceedings than Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell's clunky script, and although there's a decent premise at the heart of the film, it meanders along a little with Neeson's character somewhat annoying in his quest to unearth just who and what he is following a bout of amnesia. It's a generic action thriller that fell into a sea of mediocrity around the start of the decade, and this rewatch did nothing to suggest it wasn't a justifiable statement.
A really strong film to begin with, I got truly excited about the ending. But the last 30-45 minutes was abhorrent rubbish.
Unfortunetely, Unknown is the type of movie that's exactly the opposite of a box of chocolates. You'll always know what you're gonna get...
Especially if you've seen the trailer. Damn marketing geniuses, man...
Lively little thriller with Liam Neeson doing a creditable job as an American and Diane Kruger contributing invaluably as a Russian cabdriver who reluctantly joins him in a search for the truth about his identity. The weak link is January Jones who seems lost at how to play his wife with plenty of bad line reads. Luckily she is obscured by the high quality fringe support cast including Frank Langella, Bruno Ganz, and Sebastian Koch. At least those Germans are playing Germans.
Most movies that play memory games just don't work for me because they ask an audience to buy completely into their own made-up ideas about how the brain works. Here I initially was once again disparaging of the…
The first Jaume Collet-Serra movie I saw was NON STOP. I quite liked it. Then I saw RUN ALL NIGHT and I liked that too. Then I saw THE COMMUTER and was like ugh what.
Then, like I was anxiously googling someone I was dating, I saw his previous efforts, ORPHAN and now UNKNOWN. And I'm like yeeesch, get out of my life!
Watched & Ranked in 2018: 321/364
The first and third act flow so well and make the film for me. The second act is a bit too slow and overbearing to the rest of the film’s momentum.
I like the idea of this being a prequel to Taken.
“It’s Thanksgiving. I could’ve been home with my family having dinner instead of cleaning up your mess because you bumped your head...”
If Hitchcock were alive he could have made another classic with Cary Grant. As is, it's a fair thriller with Liam Neeson.
Ich habe selten seinen solch euphorischen Bericht gelesen wie den in der Cinema über diesen Film, da war von einem Ausnahmewerk der unglaublichsten Art die Rede – doch nun Frage ich mich: häh? Haben die den gleichen Film gesehen wie ich? Müssen sie wohl. Wobei der Film alles andere als schlecht ist, aber in meinen Augen eben doch nur ein Standardwerk. Mann mit lückenhafter Erinnerung sucht seine Vorgeschichte, die Story alleine ist schon alt und abgegriffen. Und das was dann kommt ist doch im Grunde eine Lösung aus dem Baukasten – die Spannung liegt eben nur darin welche Elemente man eingebaut hat. Soviel sei gesagt: nein, der Held ist nicht tot und der ganze Film eine Halluzination. Ansonsten hat man…
Tobias Andersen 6,553 films
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