Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) is about to have a very bad day. Many of them, in fact. As Harris and his wife arrive in Berlin for a biotechnical conference, he realizes he left his briefcase at the airport and has to go back since his passport is locked in the case. On the way, a refirgerator falls off of a truck and his cab crashes into a river, knocking Harris unconscious — his heart actually stops and Harris is in a coma for several days. When he wakes, he discovers that no one has been looking for him and as he regains bits and pieces of his memory, he finds his wife at their hotel … with another man claiming to be Dr. Martin Harris (he even has the ID and pictures to prove it). So who is the real Martin Harris and just what exactly is going on?
That’s the premise of the recent theatrical hit Unknown (arriving on DVD and Blu-ray June 21st), starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, I’ll keep this post spoiler-free because it’s a terrific thriller that had me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire running time. I really enjoyed being as off-balance as to what was happening as Neeson’s character was. We have no idea what’s happening and go on this journey of discovery with Harris. There’s nothing telegraphed in advance that gives the viewer a one-up on Harris or his reluctant associate, cab driver Gina (Kruger), an illegal immigrant who wants to just keep a low profile but gets sucked into Harris’ drama. So, while we really don’t know much about Harris and his wife, Harris begins to experience flashes of memories of their past that may or may not hold a clue to Harris’ current situation.
The movie is populated with an amazing array of actors including Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella in a very pivotal role. The only weak point is January Jones as Harris’ wife. Now, Jones has gotten a lot of flack for her performance in X-Men: First Class for being blank and vapid, but I thought that fit her character perfectly. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t work so well in this movie. She’s so maddeningly blank, even when she and Harris reunite, that you don’t have a glimmer of a clue if she’s good or bad. At least when Langella shows up, you can tell from his intonation exactly what side of the coin he’s on (but people who really hate Jones may get some satisfaction from Unknown‘s big finale).
Director Jaume Collet-Serra keeps the story moving at a brisk pace, giving Harris only a few moments at a time to try to figure out what’s happening before someone tries to kill him and has produced a pretty thrilling car chase through the streets of Berlin that will have you ducking and swerving on your sofa while stepping on that imaginary brake pedal. I watched this movie on Blu-ray and I have to say the image was stunning. The disk itself is short on bonus materials (only two featurettes and no BD-Live), so there is plenty of space to let the video and audio breathe. It’s interesting to watch the featurettes (and if you haven’t seen the movie, do not watch them first!) and see the on-set footage and compare that with the actual film just to see that, in many scenes throughout the movie, there has been some color adjustment made to apply a greenish cast to the image. I remember a movie years ago, Payback perhaps, that had done the same thing but it was so over used that it became annoying. Here, the effect is pervasive but subtle at the same time — at least the actors don’t appear to be green!
If you’re looking for a good thriller (and this is a good week for thrillers with The Adjustment Bureau also being released on home video) that will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat, I highly recommend Unknown, from the cast (well, most of the cast) to the mystery to the action to a finale full of twists and turns (that actually make sense for the most part) … pop your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the ride.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Jun 20, 2011 @ 13:51 EST5EDT
