MOVIE REVIEW - Unknown

You may remember a year or two ago Liam Neeson made a little movie, Taken that turned out to be a big hit.

This time at about the same time of year, it seems Neeson's new Unknown could be that mid winter hit that no one saw coming. Some of the advance on this was, it was Taken all over again. That is not the truth. Unknown is a good exciting movie with a plot line that is way smarter than the average February release.

Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris, who is attending a huge medical conference in Berlin, Germany with his beautiful young wife Liz, (January Jones). They become separated and the good Dr. is then in a horrible taxi cab accident, where he ends up in a four day coma. When he wakes up, no one in his life remembers him and he is seriously questioning who he really is. Even his wife claims she doesn't know him, and claims to be married to another man also named Dr. Martin Harris.

He then wanders the streets of Berlin trying to recreate the accident day, and tracks down the woman taxi driver named Gina that saved his life for her help (Diane Kruger). Together they try to piece together the day, and go to considerable risk to solve this dilemma. Because shortly after meeting her, someone is now trying to kill them and no one really knows why. Who is he, and who are all these people out to get them.? They even enlist the help of an aging Stasi agent, from the old East German Secret Police, Jurgen (Bruno Ganz) to help.

To be fair, this tale in the end is a bit far fetched, but the basic plot line is compelling. Sometimes that is why we go to the movies. To be taken away to some place and witness some thing that maybe is a bit out of reach because we can. This movie doesn't go over the top and become a parody of itself. It twists and turns and keeps you guessing most of the time. Unknown doesn't get carried away either with meaningless side plots and too many characters to keep track of. Often a problem in these kind of movies.

Plus, it has a car chase scene or two that are exceedingly well done and really fun to watch. I was very taken with the nice performance of Kruger as Gina, the down on her luck cab driver. And Ganz in his small role as the Stasi agent. Both a really nice compliment to Neeson's usual solid performance.

Unknown is not going to change one thing about movie making or make any kind of cinematic history. But it is a solid mid winter movie that isn't a cartoon, or some B- action flick. It's pretty smart and thought provoking. Over all well done.