A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is. Despite some cliches. pacing issues and Frank Langella's talent get wasted 'Unknown' benefits strictly from Liam Neeson's charm and talent that makes action movies even better this days, the action and the thriller element of the movie is well written and even tho the story isn't something original to be said it kept me hooked. Overall a nicely done film with Neeson doing what he knows best: kicking and shooting people. (7.5/10)

'Unknown' is about a man named Dr Martin Harris who's on a trip to Berlin for a conference with his wife Elizabeth. When they arrive at their hotel he notices there's a mix-up over a missing case and while travelling back to the airport he's involved in a terrible car accident. When he comes out of the resulting 4 day coma, he has lost fragments of his memory but remembers who he is, is definite of his identity, but when he reunites with his wife she claims not to know him or recognise him in any way and after a heated confrontation she introduces a man she insists is Dr Martin Harris (played by Aidan Quinn), and he even has identification, and photos with Elizabeth, to prove it. Now with everything to do with what he thought was his life seemingly replaced with something, or someone else, and stuck in Berlin without identification papers, it's a race to discover what is going on and for him to get his life back. It's a solid thriller, and has some really good moments and the director does keep the action moving along at a good pace. Liam Neeson is really good, as is Diane Kruger who plays Gina, the taxi driver who was also involved in the accident and is the only one Neeson can rely on for help. There are some good action scenes and a great car chase and the eventual twist at the end of the film is cleverly done too. I will say, I didn't think January Jones, who played Elizabeth, did a very good job in this film, her performance is pretty weak. Also, this film does have a couple of slow parts in the middle, and a couple of extra characters that I didn't feel were particularly necessary either, and there were times while watching this I was reminded of the movie "Frantic", in which Harrison Ford played a doctor attending a convention in Paris with his wife. In that movie, the wrong briefcase was picked up at the airport, Ford stepped into the hotel shower, and when he stepped out, he found his wife had vanished. Apart from that comparison, 'Unknown' is a fun and entertaining film. In my opinion it's not as good as 'Taken', but Liam Neeson does make it much better than it could have been.

Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills and instead of using them to save his family, this time he's using them to save himself. Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) has gone to Berlin, with his wife, for a medical conference, when an accident has left him in a coma. Upon awaking, no one knows who he is, not even his wife, but worse than that, there is another person walking around claiming to be Martin Harris. I don't know about you, but after three Taken movies and a handful of similar film, all starring Liam Neeson, playing the same type of character in the same type of situations, I've gotten pretty tired of him and his particular set of skills. At least the Taken movies moved at a reasonable pace and had more than a narrow focus, the same can't be said for Unknown. Parts of this film are as slow as can be, featuring Neeson and company sitting around talking about what could be going on and what to do before they show them doing it. They story is also so narrowly focused, that it leaves little flexibility for anything else. This film is as serious as it gets, it is a hundred percent focused on the story at all times, and Liam Neeson is as dry as the banks of the Colorado River. The chase scenes were cool, the conspiracy around everything was well written, but all in all this film feels very long and moves way too slowly for an action thriller, not to mention, I think I speak for everyone when I say we've had more than enough of Liam Neeson in these type of films.

I decided to watch this movie because it had Liam, the Harrison ford of the second millennium, the cute Kruger and a change of locations with Berlin. In addition, the story sounded like a mystery. Now, the result is average, not totally awful but not worthy of a second watch. I have never went there and maybe it's due to winter time but this Berlin looks a cold, industrial city that surely don't have the beauty of Paris or London… Then, i didn't understand why Kruger doesn't play a German girl ?? About the plot, it's a sort of reboot of « frantic » : same professor, same hunt in a foreign country, same companies game, same help from a young woman, same little flat… Maybe the difference is the twist but there, there is a lot of inspiration from « XIII ». The action sequences are maybe well orchestrated but they are totally unbelievable, especially the car chase ! At the end, my last question is why it's a french movie when everything and everyone aren't not french ???