UNKNOWN

“UNKNOWN” (Liam Neesom & Diane Kruger)

After “Taken”, I was skeptical of Liam Neesom’s credentials. If he thought that script was worth filming, I had to question his ability to smell crap.
When I saw the preview to ‘Unknown’, I smelled crap. & since I knew Liam has a blockage in his nasal cavity, I decided to avoid it... And then a good friend told me she thought ‘Unknown’ was better than 'The King’s Speech'. Obviously after such high praise, I had to check ‘Unknown’ out for myself. The plus being, it only cost $3 to see it. Thanks to Diane Kruger's beauty, it was worth the price... barely.
What I liked about the goofy plot is that all of the questions were revealed, sewn up & answered in the final scenes. What I didn’t like is that the answers were kind of far fetched and very silly.
I’ll approach this review from the standpoint of the trailer. Going into this mistaken identity/amnesia plot I understood that Neesom played Dr. Martin Harris (adamantly!)
After surviving a devastating cab ride crash, Dr. Harris returns to his wife who acts as if she’s never seen him before in her life and introduces Aiden Quinn as her husband, Dr. Martin Harris (in a much calmer fashion) For emphasis, Aiden wears a badge emblazoned with his moniker. Upon seeing Quinn’s Harris’s passport & ID, the police instantly remove the taller, hammier Dr. Martin Harris.
Then came the scene that turned me away as Neesom’s Harris points at Quinn’s Harris & says, “This man is an imposter. I don’t know who he is, but I want you to arrest him immediately or many lives will be lost!”
I’m assuming the ‘Doctor’ part of his name means this is a well-educated man, but what kind of dumb-ass makes a statement like that & expects the police to arrest the one that isn’t acting insane? “I don’t know who this guy is, but I’ll bet he’s planning to do something mean!” “If you say he’s a bad guy, Dr. Martin Harris with no ID or credentials, we’ll take you at your word & book him immediately on suspicion of being a potential bad guy.”
Then the line that was suppose to ‘hook’ audiences to check this film out when Quinn stands in a smoke filled room with Neesom and says, “You REALLY don’t remember ANYTHING do you?”
Yes, I wanted to know what the catch was, but I’d been taken in by ‘Taken” – I wasn’t going to fall for another Neesom turd.
The main draw here for me was Diane Kruger as the most gorgeous cab driver in history. I used to feel Diane was worth the price of admission just on that incredible face, so it didn’t matter if she couldn’t act. But once she got away from the Nicolas Cage influence (“Just show up, act disinterested and cash the paycheck, Diane. It’s easy, I do it 8, 9 times a year”) Ms. Kruger (“Inglorious Basterds”) has shown she actually has some acting chops. She is clearly the best part of this film in every sense.
So what’s the story? I’m not going to reveal the ‘twist’ but it’s an acceptable explanation for why Neesom swears he’s Dr. Harris & why Quinn takes his place, complete with passport & a wife that calls him hubby.
I watched this film like a hawk – I was expecting it to be one of those where the plot twists made no sense & I was going to be ready to jump all over it for that.
Neesom’s Harris & wife Elizabeth (January Jones) arrive in Berlin. At the airport, Neesom loads a bag into the trunk of the cab & Elizabeth tells him, “Martin, let the driver do that.”
The driver loads all the bags, except one.
My conclusion - Wife is obviously in on the scam (along with the cab driver)
At the hotel, Neesom notices missing bag & hails another cab to take him back to the airport – the second cab is driven by Gina (Diane Kruger)
Impatiently, Neesom asks if the most beautiful cab driver on the planet knows of any shortcuts, which leads them into the accident which ends with the cab careening off a bridge & into a river. Gina could have let Neesom drown, but risks her life to save him. We can conclude that Gina is not in on the scam. Unless... it was imperative to keep Neesom’s Harris alive because Gina disappears as soon as she gets Neesom to safety.
Neesom comes out of his coma 4 days later; leaves to find his wife & the scene from the trailer ensues. Assuming Neesom isn’t ‘well’ he’s returned to the hospital where they run some tests. When an assassin shows up, he wastes no time in disposing of the nurse on duty, but for some ‘Unknown’ reason decides to kill Neesom slow by injecting poison into his I.V. bag. Really? Like the hospital staff won’t suspect foul play when they find a dead nurse on the floor? So instead of shooting Neesom in the head, he decides the smarter move is to kill Neesom in a way that he won’t be present when the delusional ‘Dr. Harris’ bites the dust?
Frank Langella enters the picture as the one colleague Neesom can remember, his old friend Roy. When Roy turns up the truth begins to unravel. Like I said, the mysteries are all revealed, but the answers are goofy.
The ending left a lot to be desired as well. There’s a scene where one of the characters is trying to defuse a bomb. They stop breaking thru the wall when they can fit their arm through the hole they made instead of breaking it more so they can SEE what they’re doing... Obviously you don’t have to pass an I.Q. test to become a spy.
“Unknown” isn’t awful (like “Taken”) it tries to take a different look at the tired amnesia/mistaken identity plot and it doesn’t leave you scratching your head as to why it turned out the way it did. But when you realize everything that took place was over a new breed of corn... Well, that’s when the head scratching comes in.