Unknown
Starring: Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger
Not since Jason Bourne woke up from his deep-sea nap has a man been as confused about his identity as Dr Martin Harris, the hero at the heart of Jaume Collet-Serra’s derivative thriller, Unknown.
Things go horribly wrong for the scientist, played by Liam Neeson, from the moment he arrives in Berlin for a conference with his pretty wife (Jones).
One spectacular car crash later, Harris finds himself in hospital with a bump on his head and memory loss. For some reason his wife insists she doesn’t know him and she is with a man claiming to be the real Martin Harris.
Joined by the cab driver who saved his life (Kruger), Miller tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. With its rough-and-tumble fight scenes and car chases, Unknown desperately wants to be the new Bourne, but a preposterous storyline means it’s difficult to take the film seriously.
With its glaring plot-holes and unintentionally funny dialogue, it’s only thanks to the efforts of Neeson that Unknown isn’t a complete joke. The Irishman is as likeable and magnetic as always but he can’t rescue a film that, aptly enough, won’t linger long in the memory banks.
2/5
Good for: Liam Neeson movie aficionados.
Watch the Unknown trailer here.
– Pierre de Villiers
