Blu-ray Review - Unknown

There's no easy way to put this, so I'll be straightforward. Unknown is unbelievable. I simply can't believe that a cast this good came together with a premise this good, and made a movie this bad. The blame, of course, falls solely on the writers, who took a good premise and then stretched it over the film like a drumhead, waiting to see which parts started to tear first. Nothing snapped, but plausibility is showing some nasty looking stretch marks. And, with film, stretch marks just aren't pleasant to watch.

Liam Neeson is in full out Taken mode in Unknown (on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital Download 6/21), in which his character, Dr. Martin Harris, is suddenly replaced by another man who claims to be him but doesn't have the credentials to back it up. Of course, any film that features this sort of a plot is likely to have some major flaws unless the writing is careful. And the writing isn't careful. When Harris can't find himself on the hotel security cameras in one scene, for instance, the security people take a gander at the feed from the front desk, not the more logical front door cameras (which every hotel has, and on which Harris would have shown up). It's facepalming stupid at times, but Neeson, Diane Kruger, and the rest of the cast do fine -- except for January Jones, who just isn't quite believable as a highly trained assassin.

The cinematography/editing is great. There's one scene, which involves a van falling from a high-rise parking deck, that is the most memorable part of the movie, simply on the merits of how well it's edited. If only the writers had gotten as good an editor for their script.

Regardless, if you like action flicks like Taken and Drive Angry -- you know, movies that are a lot of action and not a lot of thought to the plot -- you might really enjoy Unknown. I, on the other hand, found it irredeemably crippled by just awful writing, despite a stellar cast. Unbelievable.

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