Familiar mish-mash

Rating: 5/10 (26 August 2012)

UNKNOWN is one of those silly films which rehashes the same themes and plots of other, better movies in an attempt to make some money, instead of thinking up new, original concepts. At first glance, this seems to be a slightly supernatural thriller about a man being haunted by his own doppelganger, bringing to mind the Roger Moore flick THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF. Having just watched the movie, it failed to fulfil any of my expectations and turned out to be a rather unappetising mix of three rather more recent films.
The film it most obviously recalls is TAKEN, the top-notch action flick which reinvented Neeson as an action star. Neeson's trapped in Europe again, fending off various bad guys, although this is far from being an action movie; the fight scenes, unlike those in TAKEN, aren't up to much. Then there are the plot twists and turns, and the whole amnesic storyline which brings THE BOURNE IDENTITY to mind. Thematically, though, I was most reminded of the excellent Roman Polanski thriller FRANTIC, which saw Harrison Ford searching for his missing wife in Paris.
UNKNOWN has a familiar look and feel to its storyline and few things that take place during the running time will come as a real surprise. Neeson is sleepwalking through his role, and Diane Kruger has very little to do, but both of their performances look masterful in comparison to January Jones' excruciating turn as Neeson's wife – seriously, who told this woman she could act? Aidan Quinn pops up in a minor role which makes you wonder what happened to him, and Frank Langella is in the movie even less. The excellent Bruno Ganz has pretty much the same type of mentor/support role as he did in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE remake.
Despite being superficially entertaining during its running time, in the end UNKNOWN fails because of the sheer ludicrous nature of its plot. It holds the attention while you watch, but soon afterwards you sit back and realise that most of the the story is based on contrivance and coincidence. As such, it's certainly not a film you'll be in any hurry to watch a second time around.