(Mild spoilers for this and other movies.).I just caught this flick on teevee, so it was needlessly censored and butchered for broadcast, but nevertheless it grabbed me by the collar to get my attention, and didn't let go until the end, to the point where my coffeemaker was about 10sec from overflowing because I neglected to put the pot under the basket!.That said, as soon as I saw Jim Caveziel, I knew I had to watch it, and it didn't disappoint. It was great to also see Kevin Chapman (JC's future castmate in "Person of Interest", too! Add Bridget Moynahan ("Blue Bloods"), Joe Pantoliano ("The Matrix"), Peter Stormare ("Fargo"), Jeremy Sisto ("Suicide Kings"), a genuine who's-who from tres kewl movies and teevee shows, and you have a visual treat from start to end.Acting was as good as it gets, as no one seemed out of place or out of his element. I also liked the bit of a John Quade / "Total Recall" philosophy that you are who you are *now*, not who you *were* in the past, when your memories are (albeit temporarily) wiped clean.In general, "Unknown" is one of those "figure it out as you go along" movies, where you begin with a puzzling situation, and gradually pieces of the puzzles are slowly spoon-fed to you to complete the picture. It's not as cryptic as "The Captive", where you have to figure out that different scenes take place in different timelines, and is much more linear, so you're still craving that next piece of the puzzle without being left totally bewildered until halfway through the movie. Bits and pieces of the characters' memories slowly tell the story in a rashomon-esque way.Although, I do think I need to rewatch this movie in its entirety to make sure creative editing-for-teevee didn't leave out anything critical, and to pay special attention near the end to try to "digest" the twist ending. Reading some of the comments/reviews here, it's clear that the ending was a bit *un*clear, so I need to fully take it in and mull it over. Genius, or slapped together in a rush at the end, I don't know yet. Hopefully it won't be as odd as "Revolver", though (haha).Anyway, while some people loved the ending and others were left befuddled and even let down, I'd definitely give it a go, and judge for yourself. I found myself completely drawn in immediately, and I wasn't set free until the end-credits rolled.

After familiarizing myself with the plot summary, I decided to watch the movie to find out how much the idea known from Reservoir Dogs or Saw was going to be exploited... Luckily, the actors are good (especially Greg Kinnear and Peter Stormare) and a parallel chase is depicted. However, the flashbacks are often too fast, but the scenes get sometimes too slow.The plot is still OK, tensions are there and viewers are left unknown for a long time. It is probably more interesting to watch it in the male company, as female characters are present less than 10% of the total length - which is fortunately not big (1h 15 min.). The ending is awkward, but probably it is found great by many viewers.

A group of men wake up in an industrial facility of some sort. They are locked in and none of them can remember who they are or why they are there. One is handcuffed to a railing and bleeding from a gunshot wound. Another is tied to a chair. A third has been hit in the face with a shovel. As this group try to figure out who they are, why they are there, and how to get out we also see a police operation to do with a ransom drop.After its mysterious start, this turns into a relatively routine suspense thriller with a twist. There is a good cast - Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper, Joe Pantoliano - but two big things work against the film.One is that despite its meagre running length - a short 82 minutes - it takes far too long to get going. Having made its point (these men don't remember anything) it takes forever to actually do anything with the setup. And the second is that the script is not much cop. Far too much of it is simply people shouting at each other - there is no subtlety.

Five men wake up at an abandoned warehouse, none of them remembering who he is, and all of them in a pretty dramatic situation: one is badly wounded and in cuffs, another is tied down to a chair, and they're all locked in. They soon learn that the "bad guys" are on their way there. Some of these five men are criminals and others are their victims, but they don't know who is who. However, they're all in danger, so they're going to have to cooperate in order to save their lives.That's "Unknown"'s attractive premise. It is not really original, as isn't anything about the movie, actually. However, I feel that something better could have been done out of it. There's nothing wrong with "Unknown", and in fact I enjoyed it quite a bit -but it's definitely a minor movie. I personally have no problem with movies that aren't going to stick in my memory after they end, and in fact, I often prefer movies that offer pure entertainment value over those that are trying to "make me think". However, if you fall into the latter category, you're probably going to be disappointed at this movie, because you've probably seen "Memento", "Reservoir dogs", "The usual suspects", "Saw", and others. The inspiration from all of those is in "Unknown" in some form or manner, and "Unknown" has nothing new or ground-breaking to offer.All in all, it is a very entertaining movie which probably falls short of its own potential. Enjoyable from beginning to end, though.