A mixed bag but entertaining

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2011)

Liam Neeson plays well ... Liam Neeson most of the time in his films and is always this tortured character wrestling with inner turmoils of one sort or another. I saw echoes of past work like Taken, Afterlife and even Love Actually creeping into his portrayal here. That may be a little unfair as he has played some great roles over the years but he did seem to be a little on auto-pilot for most of this one.
That being said I enjoyed the film, and I can always watch Diane Kruger, who is usually worthy in anything she's in (I forgive the terrible Eastern European accent is it?). As Neeson's leading lady in this film the chemistry didn't seem quite right though, and they seemed awkward in their scenes together unfortunately.
The story is initially intriguing and puzzling and keeps you guessing. A doctor and his wife arrive for a conference in Berlin - where he is due to speak at a Biotechnology conference. He leaves his briefcase at the airport and rushes back for it leaving his wife at the hotel. The taxi he's in, driven by Kruger, has an accident and he's comatose after she saves his life. When he wakes up he finds that another man (Aidan Quinn) has stolen his identity and his wife appears to be going along with it. What is going on and why? He tracks Kruger down and enlists her help to find the answers. Bruno Ganz is also roped in as an ex KGB spy now turned PI, and he embarrassingly overacts in his part.
About half way through I began to have suspicions regarding Neeson's character whose actions contradicted his apparent persona and this meant that I worked out the twist ending fairly comfortably with time to spare.
The hoods were suitably sinister but easily disposable, and seemed to wait for their fates however in the action scenes. Quinn (who worked well with Neeson in Michael Collins) was largely wasted in this though with way to little to do. I would have liked to have seen his part larger.
However as said this film entertained and was worth the watch in my opinion.