Tonight's Movie: Unknown (2011)

Every once in a while I like to watch something a little out of my usual routine and catch a good newer action movie.  It's sort of "palate cleansing" watching a suspenseful film with a lot of crashes and bangs!

In the past I've enjoyed Liam Neeson's NON-STOP (2014) and THE COMMUTER (2018), which hit the "sweet spot" for me in terms of being exciting yet not so violent I couldn't enjoy them. Both were rated PG-13, and tonight I tried another of Neeson's films with that rating, UNKNOWN (2011).  I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris, a scientist who has just arrived at a conference in Berlin with his wife Liz (January Jones of MAD MEN).  Upon arrival at their hotel, Liz is checking in when Martin suddenly realizes he left his briefcase on the sidewalk at the airport.  He quickly hops into a cab to race back and retrieve it.

On the way to the airport Martin's taxi is in a disastrous wreck which leaves him hospitalized in a coma for four days.  When he comes to, Martin learns he had no identification so no one has contacted Liz.  Thinking Liz must be frantic trying to find him, Martin checks out of the hospital against doctor's orders and heads to the hotel.  He finds Liz...and she claims to have no idea who he is.  

What's worse, she's with her husband, Dr. Martin Harris.

Baffled, Martin eventually ends up back at the hospital trying to figure things out.  A kind nurse gives him a card with the number of someone she knows who "finds people."  When Martin ultimately visits him, it turns out the man (Bruno Ganz) is an ex-Stasi officer, but he believes Martin and is willing to go to work digging into Martin's past.  Martin, having little other help, is grateful.

Martin also seeks answers from Gina (Diane Kruger), the taxi driver who had saved his life after the wreck.  It becomes increasingly apparent that beyond the mystifying mind games, someone is trying to have him -- and anyone around him -- killed.  Who and why?

This was a nicely crafted, intriguing story with a pretty good twist I didn't see coming.  The movie was well paced at 103 minutes, which seemed just about right to tell the story without testing viewer patience.  

As always, Neeson is the perfect action hero, and he's particularly interesting here as a man who may -- or may not -- be losing his mind.  He's surrounded by a solid supporting cast, including Frank Langella as a colleague.  

I hesitate to say much more about the movie, as further discussion of characters and plot would necessarily be "spoilerish."  Suffice it to say this might not be a perfect film, but it was plenty entertaining and I had a good time watching it.

The attractive location filming in Germany was by Flavio Labiano.  The movie was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who also worked with Neeson on RUN ALL NIGHT (2015) and THE COMMUTER.

The PG-13 rating seemed to be primarily for the non-stop action scenes, which could be startling but were not overly graphic.  

UNKNOWN is available on Blu-ray and DVD, including a 2-film Blu-ray set with RUN ALL NIGHT.

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