We get the gist...of the twist

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2011)

There's lots to love about this film....brisk tempo, exotic intrigue, fleet-footed action sequences...the best of which were displayed in many of my favorite films of this genre: the Bourne trilogy, The Fugitive, etc.
The Unknown is propelled forward quite effortlessly by these elements...until, surprisingly, then end. Has anyone experienced that moment in a commercial flight when the smooth, intense acceleration of lift-off and ascent subtly disengages to settle in for level flight? That's usually the point when people (those not jaded by excessive air travel, that is!) break out their books, iPads, Air Malls...the moment when the thrill is gone. I felt something of that shift watching Unknown draw to a close. The coveted "unpredictable plot twist" just didn't deliver me through that sling-shot feeling which so gripped me in movies that expertly employed the device in the past (I'll never forget my gaping jaw in The Sixth Sense...totally, blissfully blind-sided). I remember looking at my wife, after the big revelation (no, I won't spoil) with a look that said..."I'm not feeling it" Could we be at that unhappy moment, ladies and gentlemen? The tipping point when unpredictable plot twists have gone through their permutations...to the point that they have simply become predictable? A very sad day, indeed, if that is the case.
Perhaps the new unpredictable plot twist will be....no plot twist at all.