Unknown

An accomplished thriller that seems to have arrived in 2011 from the seventies, when masterpieces like The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and The Quiller Memorandum were being made. Everything seen (the strangely atmospheric, gloomy Berlin, the progressively gritty Neeson, the sympathetic Kruger, the charismatic Ganz, one of the best car chases in recent times) and heard (the good Ottman) was great. The final twist wasn't that much of a twist, but I can't complain. It's a shame that Unknown was unable to avoid a few horrible clichés in the finale. I still give it four stars. I had fun and I was tense.__P.S. I don't know what was supposed to be mysterious about the film. (08/09/2011)

Liam Neeson has transformed into a hero of action thrillers. The man whom most of us still see as the mentoring Qui-Gon Jinn has already delivered good performances in films such as "The Grey" or "Taken". His role in the movie "Unknown" is similar. He is not a kind person on the side of good, but rather a person who suddenly, out of nowhere, loses his identity. At one moment he is Martin Harris, who arrives at a conference in Berlin. In the next moment, he is in a taxi that plunges into a river. After four days, he wakes up from a coma, seeking his wife, but discovers that she is already with another Martin Harris. As Neeson has no documentation, he cannot prove who he really is. A suspenseful journey through the countryside begins, the search for identity and also the truth. Diane Kruger supports him excellently in this, and I have already forgiven her for "Troy". Together, they flee from place to place, wanting to gather as much information as possible, but there is little of it. In the end, they uncover the truth. There is one problem with films like "Unknown". The audience has high expectations. I think that the twist might bring mild disappointment, but that doesn't change the fact that you will simply enjoy the film with Liam. He is a likable guy, whether he plays a good guy or a reformed good guy. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/07/happy-feet-2-bobr-cislo-4-musketyri.html (23/02/2013)

Amnesia, Berlin in winter, secret agents, car chases, a cold femme fatale, an Arab sheikh, a trustworthy and likeable woman taxi driver, a brilliant scientist, powerful people pulling the strings behind the scenes, hit men, an unexpected twist. And also a great cast. It’s all here, but only in a recycled and somewhat overdone form. In his previous Orphan, Jaume Collet-Serra managed to shake up some genre clichés, but that doesn’t happen here. The film’s only memorable scene is the chilling encounter between the excellent actors Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella. (01/05/2011)

Many reviews here mention something about a (dumb) punchline suffering from lapses in logic. Quite on the contrary, I think that the story logically (whether or not clever, is a different matter) links and smooths out apparent over-complexity and lapses in logic with something that makes sense, but you must bear in mind that this is a genre movie not pretending to be anything more, so it would be naive to expect anything sophisticated à la Hitchcock. And it works fine, the same as the story in the last thirty minutes. When you add to this the uncompromising Neeson, the snowy atmosphere of Berlin and the great car chases, then... You simply have a quality genre movie. (04/06/2011)

Unknown doesn't come up with groundbreaking or new. By unraveling the puzzle surrounding the main character's identity(ies), it additionally brings back into play one recent fashion wave, BUT... Jaume Collet-Serra proves once again, after the brilliant Orphan, that his first film was a necessary evil for its time in order for him to enter Hollywood, and only now can he show what all is brewing within him. I won't lament the plot, which again follows a template that has been seem many times. Serra has a way with actors that is absolutely perfect, and his baby works especially when he’s playing the paranoia card. The ending, however, offers something that has not failed to amaze me of late. That something is the current acting position of Liam Neeson, who, on the verge of sixty, has switched to the role of uncompromising action hero who hides under the guise of civilian ordinariness, only to shoot accurately and deliver a hard hits at the right moment. His ruthless charisma permeates the entire film and makes you forget that it doesn't fit the logic in places. PS: The extremely kind Arab sheik and a former Stasti member as positive characters? :) (27/05/2011)