Unknown is the first in a series of collaborations between director Jaume Collet-Serra and his muse, Liam Neeson, which include Non-Stop, Run All Night and The Commuter. In this one, a man wakes up from a coma with his identity impossible to prove, especially since someone else is using his name, and his wife acts as if she does not know him. Will he discover his real identity before a group of mysterious men with a particular set of skills find him?
There is an implicit social contract between viewers and filmmakers that when Neeson is in a film, the man is built like a brick wall so there will be nonstop action and satisfying vengeance. Unknown does not let Liam start Liaming until fifty-six minutes into the movie. Everyone else gets better action scenes than he does. One guy who never utters a single line, Stipe Erceg, gets the smoothest action moment. Initially I considered that maybe the filmmaker wanted to be provocative and turn the tables by allowing someone else to make sure that Neeson’s character does not get taken. Diane Kruger, who plays a Bosnian undocumented immigrant in Berlin, gets the first and best action sequence in the film. (Side note: she is actually German, but now you make her bust out a fake Bosnian accent. For real?) I would have been totally fine with the film subverting my expectations and have her forced to rescue this sheltered man and teaching him to shake what his mama gave him to defend himself using skills that she acquired in a war zone. It would have been fun and unexpected, but no.
Unknown is a movie that takes too long to get to the damn point, and since it is another vacuous action film, the point is not even that interesting, especially since other movies have literally tackled the same subject matter in far more textured ways that allow audiences to subconsciously meditate on issues of identity, gender norms and reconciling the present with the past. This film devotes a lot of time to teasing us about being a son and a husband and relies heavily on the idea of the femme fatale, wife/whore, honey pot showcase that allows men a gender appropriate forum, an international action thriller, to express relationship insecurities and anxieties without actually having to express feelings or talk to anyone. With men beginning to acknowledge that a lot of emotional burden is solely placed on their partners instead of distributed among close male friends, professionals and other relationships like women do, this movie could have resonated with audiences more effectively if it had followed through on the fears that it incessantly evoked, but nope, it dropped it like a hot potato. Better to not tease us than to hint at something deeper then never deliver.
Unknown proved that it was full of malarkey when a doctor asks Liam where he is from, and he replies, “America,” with zero follow up questions about where he was born originally. Neeson’s accent is practically its own character in every single movie. It gets a chair on the lot. If he sounded as if he was born here, he would not be as successful as he is. Look at Adam Baldwin’s career! Come on! The real standout in this dumb film is the lone good guy, an ex-Stasi agent dying of cancer. Yes, we are rooting for an ex-Stasi agent. So we are really counting on people not knowing anything about history to make this movie digestible, huh? Bruno Ganz is the best thing about the movie, and if life was fair, this movie would have been the first installment of a series of films with his character as the hero investigating international thriller shenanigans like Constantine without the supernatural.
The best scene in Unknown unfolds after seventy-four minutes between Ganz and Frank Langella in the most tender, sensitive, menacing scene that encapsulates how superb the movie could have been if someone was willing to make a quality film about the actual story instead of touching on various scenes then scurrying away from commitment. By the time that the film gets to the heart of the story, I stopped caring, and the big reveal was so vague and poorly explained that only the magnificent acting could stop someone from saying, “Wait, if this unit is European based, where does it originate? I am going to need a chart to figure out the hierarchy and organizational structure please.” It is kind of why I hate international thrillers because these films expect me to get invested in barely introduced concepts. I did love that when we get glimpses into the behind the scenes vast innerworkings of the conspiracy, everyone was far from business casual and were practically wearing sweats. It was hilarious. Those evil guys are comfortable when they are not on assignment.
I have some random complaints about Unknown. Hire a babysitter if you are going to an elegant function where your best professional friend who funds all your work regularly brings a harem of models. You are annoying the other guests, and it is not appropriate for children. I got so confused because before the party, the professional friend was all slick Western chic, but by the time he got into the party, he was in traditional I am a rich Middle Eastern dude garb. Did he do a wardrobe change or did the movie screw up and hope that we did not notice? In what world am I supposed to believe that Aidan Quinn can take Liam Neeson? They must be friends in real life because I remember them in Michael Collins together. No disrespect intended to Quinn, but no. It is absurd. Or hire a better fight choreographer so at least it looks like Quinn has some secret martial arts skills to use Neeson’s size against him. It looked as if no work or thought was put into this showdown.
Is January Jones a good actor? I honestly do not know and am open to arguments on both sides. I initially saw her in X-Men: First Class then The Last Man on Earth before deep diving into Mad Men. She uses kind of the same-flat affect. We project our feelings more on her than she projects those feelings on her face. Maybe she is good because I generally have instinctually strong negative feelings about her character so when I saw her, I immediately thought, “Nope, do not trust her!” I kind of thought her role was unintentionally (?) funny by the denouement.
I want to give a shout out to all the nice cabs that got wrecked during Unknown. The property damage hurt my heart. So many Mercedes-Benz were lost in this production. I am not even a car person, but I recognized them and knew they were nice. I am going to start a movement speaking out on behalf of all the property lost during action sequences.
Skip Unknown. It is not a good movie. If you adore the cast or want to gawk at Berlin, go for it. If you are into international thrillers, maybe you will love it, but do not say that I did not warn you.