Unknown [DVD] [2011]

While watching this movie I found it very different to anything I have seen before, The storyline is great and with an all out cast of marvelous actors I can't see where it can go wrong, Action and suspense is really chilling with not knowing who you are and not knowing anything about yourself, what a horror as a near fatal car crash causes memory loss and your identity taken from you by a stranger, what more could happen, just a couple of things but you will have to watch the show to find out more as no more clues for this brilliant and unforgettable show. I rated this an A grade plus for first class entertainment keeping the issues twisted all the way to the very end. Challenging your mind to work out the puzzle and than something else comes along to change your idea. It's wonderful and delightful to watch something so cleverly done. so pick up your popcorn sit and relax put your feet up and take a rollercoaster ride with this marvelous movie.

If you have not seen this film do try it, I was on the end of my seat till the very end.

Fresh from his exploits in Taken it was obviously a good idea to exploit Neeson's newly minted tough guy persona while still fresh in the mind of the film-going public: hence Unknown, a shamelessly derivative product if ever there was one! Perhaps I'm being a little too harsh, but I think not. Naturally, it's impossible to escape our cultural influences and we cannot look at anything without looking through the filters of our experience and here we have a perfect example. Whether consciously put there or otherwise the visual echoes of previous productions flicker and sometimes beam from the screen almost blindingly throughout. But this isn't meant to be a criticism: for the movie buff it's all part of the entertainment! We have bio-scientist, Dr Martin Harris (Neeson), arriving in a snowy, wintery Berlin accompanied by his wife (January Jones). Almost three decades before, in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, we had physicist, Dr Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), arriving in Copenhagen accompanied by his fiancée (Julie Andrews). Both esteemed American scientists are visiting European capitals to give presentations at an important scientific conference. On arriving at their hotel Harris realizes that his briefcase, containing important items like a passport and his presentation papers, has been left at the airport and, bizarrely, without telling his wife he hops back into the taxi and returns to the airport hoping to retrieve the lost briefcase. However, calamity strikes and the taxi is involved in an incident that causes it to swerve and hurtle through a barrier into the icy river. Harris is knocked unconscious but the female driver, who we later come to know as Gina (Diane Kruger) is able to escape and make the surface. She realizes Harris is still in the car and manages to dive down and save him! He wakes up in hospital and is told he's been `out' for four days. Immediately discharging himself he manages to make his way back to his hotel to find his wife who steadfastly refuses to recognize him having in the meantime mysteriously acquired another husband, Dr Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn), who has all the necessary documentation to prove that he is the real Harris and Neeson the imposter! So which one is the real Harris? Since Neeson is the star, it must be him, surely! But just like Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) before him in North by North West, he has a tough job persuading just about anybody! However, he's given the name of a private detective, a former Stasi operative named Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz) who acts as the `wiser older mentor' type figure a la, Dr Brulov (Michael Chekov) in Hitchcock's Spellbound. Jurgen advises `Harris' to find the taxi driver, Gina, as he thinks she may be the key! And, indeed, this turns out to be a valid assertion. Gina, just like Michelle (Emanuelle Seigner) in Polanski's Frantic, who aids Harrison Ford's Dr Richard Walker (a `mere' medical practitioner) in an `unknown' Paris, proves to be just the kind of streetwise, knowledgeable young sidekick `Harris' needs. So, we've seen many of the elements before but the principal source seems to be Hitchcock, primarily, in North by North West: even an evil though amiable and courteous `Mr Big' a la James Mason's, Phillip Vandamm, in the form of Frank Langella, enters the action about half way through and January Jones and Diana Kruger are a kind of amalgam of Eva Marie Saint's, Eve Kendall. Fittingly, then, after suitably Machiavellian plot machinations, the film ends on a train. It might be derivative but very entertainingly so!

One of the best films I have watched recently. Bear in mind that I don't follow trends in films, I am not always knowledgeable about actors, but when I like a film, I like it, whether it is old or new. ''Unknown'' has everything I like in an action film, intelligent plot, good acting and a twist in the end. It is true that the plot is not new, a man with temporary loss of memory, someone else takes his place and a beautiful stranger helps him, but the film is so brilliantly made that it avoided to fall into cliches and deja vus. I think for this kind of plot, you really need solid actors, otherwise, it becomes cheesy. Liam Neeson is very charismatic and Diane Kruger is excellent. A film I will watch again with pleasure.

its not a bad thriller, just bot a great one, too many plot holes without spoiling too much, why did it take it so long for someone to look at airport camera footage and why didnt the guy notice the different accents of the people claiming to be someone hes talked with on the phone

Very good customer service and quality

Fabulous film.

This is one of Liam Neeson's best movies and certainly the most intriguing in my view. I much prefer its Alfred Hitchcock style plot to the rather more straight forward 'Dad on the rampage' story behind 'Taken' to which 'Unknown' has been compared. Set in Berlin, it is a real mind bender with major twists which takes Neeson's character to the brink of insanity. Ably supported by January Jones and Diane Kruger, this is a highly enjoyable stolen identity thriller which, despite mixed reviews at the time, did very well at the box office. Recommended. Christopher Garfield Allen is a Technical Author and a crime writer specializing in unusual and well researched fiction with the following books available through Amazon: His latest novel: Reality Shaper: The Quantum Detective Parallel Lifetimes The Beam of Interest: Taken by Storm Hypnotic Tales 2013: Some Light Some Dark Call of the Void: The Strange Life and Times of a Confused Person: 1

This movie totally surprised me.....i never thought yet another movie filmed on an airplane could turn out this good....had it all action suspence and intrigue.......loved it one of the better movies i seen in awhile

Grande Liam Neeson che in questo film interpreta un certo dottor Martin Harris che appena arrivato Berlino ha un incidente e perde la memoria, presto scoprirà la presenza di un altro dottor Martin Harris insieme a sua moglie. Pian piano la memoria gli tornerà e... il seguito lo lascio a voi. A me è piaciuto molto. Lo consiglio pienamente

主人公マーティンがいきなり事故に遭ってしまい、昏睡状態から目覚めたら、同行していた妻をはじめ、誰も知らないという展開に見入ってしまった。どーなるのか展開が分からない。正体が判明してからの展開もスリルかあって面白かった。

Superbe film avec 1 tres bon acteur

******WARNING: SPOILER ALERTS******* Once known for roles like "Schindler's List" and "Michael Collins," Neeson has now become an action star with the "Taken" trilogy, "Non-Stop" and other films including this GEM of a movie. What sets Neeson apart from other so-called "action stars" is the gravitas he brings to his roles because he is such a wonderful actor but also because he is so physically imposing. Unlike Tom Cruise [why would they cast a 5' 6" actor as Jack Reacher is beyond me] you really believe that Neeson's characters can take on the bad guys and win. "Unknown" is a terrific movie and calls for only some suspension of disbelief in my opinion because everything comes together by the end. Yes, Neeson's character leaves his briefcase at the airport but come on people, do you want a movie or not? Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris who has come to Berlin with his wife Liz [played woodenly by eye candy January Jones, make that emaciated eye candy January Jones] who is the only person in the movie who was badly cast. Forgetting the aforementioned briefcase at the airport, he gets into a cab at his hotel driven by Diane Kruger...who brings all the life January Jones left behind as an illegal Bosnian immigrant working in Germany. They get into a car crash and Neeson wakes up in the hospital where he has been in a coma for four days. Frantic that his wife doesn't know where he is, Harris's life turns into a Kafkaeque nightmare when he locates his wife who doesn't recognize him and worse is with another man who claims that he is Dr. Martin Harris. For a brief moment he begins to think that maybe his head injury is worse than he thought until someone tries to assassinate him and he realizes that there is a plot afoot because if he were just some guy recovering from the aftereffects of a coma, why would someone want to kill him? OK..that's it for the spoiler alerts and actually the film has so many twists and turns to it that I haven't given that much away. Neeson has seamlessly made the transition to action star and this movie succeeds on every level. Who is he? Who is the man pretending to be Dr. Martin Harris? Why does his own wife not recognize him? What will he do and where will he turn? This is where Diane Kruger enters the picture and her performance is first rate. Her "Gina" is smart and resourceful and saves the day more than once. Other standouts include Bruno Ganz as Ernst Jurgen, a former Stasi agent ["I cannot drink any longer but I like to forget that. We Germans are experts at forgetting. We forgot we were Nazis. Now we have forgotten 40 years of Communism - all gone."] who is an unlikely ally -- aren't we supposed to hate the East German counterparts of the KGB -- but Jurgen makes us like him almost against our will. Frank Langella as Rodney Cole and Sebastian Koch as Dr Bressler also infuse their characters with special qualities. I have been enamored with Koch since I first saw him in the Dutch film "The Black Book" and even in this small role, he shines. I did not recognize Aidan Quinn during the first go around of seeing the movie. His looks have changed a lot but once I got over the surprise of how much he has aged, I just enjoyed his usual competent performance This is an edge-of-your-seat thriller/mystery that takes us for a ride in more ways than one meaning I hope you like car chases. If you enjoy this type of genre the way we do, you will not be disappointed. "Unknown" delivers.