Monday, February 08, 2021

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.


6 Comments:

Blogger Margot Shelby said...

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm a big fan of action movies - Jason Statham ones usually do just fine for me - but these kinds of mysteries/thrillers are great too. I'll check it out.

I don't know if you've seen Taken. The first one is very good, just skip the two follow-ups which are seriously ridiculous. Though I'm still pondering the idea of an over 50 year old Neeson as action hero. If you don't think about it too much, it works.

10:44 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

I hope you'll enjoy it when you check it out! Watching it I was thinking that in some respects this is a role Cary Grant could have played -- kind of NORTH BY NORTHWEST-ish, with the hero pursued by mysterious unknown forces and January Jones a perfect Hitchcockian blonde.

I've been a little leery of TAKEN as I thought the plot might disturb me, but I see it's rated PG-13...maybe I'm ready to give it a try. Thanks for the recommendation! Neeson's persona in these films is so fun -- sort of worn down and over the hill, yet not so much he can't wallop the bad guys LOL.

I agree with you, I really love Jason Statham though I haven't seen enough of his films yet. He was tremendous fun in THE MEG and the FAST & FURIOUS films, and I've also seen a couple of his straight crime/action movies. I've collected some of those which looked a bit less violent (funny to say about action movies, but you probably know what I mean) for future viewing.

Best wishes,
Laura

11:09 AM  
Blogger Margot Shelby said...

You should definitively watch the first Taken. I don't think it's too nasty. It's a good straightforward action movie.

For Statham, my favorites are Parker, Safe and the first Transporter movie. Transporter 2 and 3 are OK. Also, the Expendables. You don't get around a few nasty scenes and lots of bone-crunching in those films though. :)

12:32 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Sounds good re TAKEN.

Yay, those Statham titles are the ones I have, along with HOMEFRONT -- saw SAFE a while back and enjoyed it. My friend Kristina (of the Speakeasy blog) watches a lot of adventure films and has helped steer me toward action films that are at my comfort level.

I see the first EXPENDABLES movie is part of Amazon Prime so I added it to my watch list.

Thanks much!!

Best wishes,
Laura

2:50 PM  
Blogger Irene said...

Got "Unknown" from the library and boy were you right - I did not see that twist coming! Very good action movie especially all those car chases - those poor taxi's. I am not much into these action movies involving real life and it makes me want to just skip to the end and make sure everyone is OK. Action movies (like the Marvel series of movies) are what I usually watch. I guess being made up action heroes is more my speed. I was getting somewhat anxious about half through this one. Speaking of Marvel - I am so loving WandaVision!!!!

6:18 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Hi Irene! Glad you were able to check it out. I understand what you mean about the stress -- I will confess that there are a few suspense films (not this one) where I *have* skipped to the end to make sure who lives, then gone back to watch the movie with my stress reduced. My family members who don't like spoilers are baffled but I find I sometimes enjoy the movie more if I know what to expect.

But speaking of worry -- *wow* WANDAVISION is something! What an incredibly multilayered, carefully thought out show. Great stuff.

Best wishes,
Laura

7:11 PM  

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