When a man awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity, he teams up with a young woman to prove who he is.When a man awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity, he teams up with a young woman to prove who he is.When a man awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity, he teams up with a young woman to prove who he is.
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- 3 nominations total
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Featured reviews
Multiple people have compared this to Neeson's 2008 release of "Taken." Both have a similar concept; Liam goes on a fast-paced journey to retrieve something special that has been taken from him. This time it is not his daughter; it is his mind. Unlike "Taken," "Unknown" is more of a suspense mystery than an action flick. There are some chases and fight scenes, but that is not the main focus. The movie's plot is focus and it is unique for it is unpredictable. We are confused like Neeson's character and there are times we don't know if he will succeed. There are multiple twists and unlike most mystery thrillers, it took me more than half through the film to figure it all out.
In short, "Unknown" is a fairly decent mystery thriller. Good performances. Good story for a mystery. Good music. Good cinematography—I particularly like the whole gray, dreary atmosphere that reflects the film's location's bleak weather. Good twists. Good suspense— the sound mixers must've had a kick in adding emphasis on sound effects to startle the audience. The one thing I will note is that Liam Neeson is really showing his age. This is not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary, it helps his character out. It gets tiresome that Hollywood always uses the generic 30-something year old actor with smashing abs who is tossed into a terrible situation. It is nice to see an aging actor play an upper middle-aged man who has perhaps lost his mind while running away from people trying to kill him.
My rating: ***/****
In short, "Unknown" is a fairly decent mystery thriller. Good performances. Good story for a mystery. Good music. Good cinematography—I particularly like the whole gray, dreary atmosphere that reflects the film's location's bleak weather. Good twists. Good suspense— the sound mixers must've had a kick in adding emphasis on sound effects to startle the audience. The one thing I will note is that Liam Neeson is really showing his age. This is not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary, it helps his character out. It gets tiresome that Hollywood always uses the generic 30-something year old actor with smashing abs who is tossed into a terrible situation. It is nice to see an aging actor play an upper middle-aged man who has perhaps lost his mind while running away from people trying to kill him.
My rating: ***/****
This century has seen Liam Neeson in real leading roles, when his character "permeates" the whole movie and is strong and quick-witted. Taken 1 and 2 are best known, Unknown has - for some reason or another - remained in their shadow. In my opinion, the script of the latter is much stronger, has more twists-turns and unpredictable moments - me being a fan and active viewer of crime thrillers could not guess what kind of background could Neeson's character Dr. Martin Harris really have. Sequence of the events is logical and chases are visually enjoyable. The ending in general is predictable, apart from the very last scene.
Well, all the cast is excellent, not only Liam Neeson; Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz are the supporting actors more time on screen and they are really good. In short, Unknown is really worth watching - especially if you have not read spoilers :)
Well, all the cast is excellent, not only Liam Neeson; Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz are the supporting actors more time on screen and they are really good. In short, Unknown is really worth watching - especially if you have not read spoilers :)
Multiple people have compared this to Neeson's 2008 release of "Taken." Both have a similar concept; Liam goes on a fast-paced journey to retrieve something special that has been taken from him. This time it is not his daughter; it is his mind. Unlike "Taken," "Unknown" is more of a suspense mystery than an action flick. There are some chases and fight scenes, but that is not the main focus. The movie's plot is focus and it is unique for it is unpredictable. We are confused like Neeson's character and there are times we don't know if he will succeed. There are multiple twists and unlike most mystery thrillers, it took me more than half through the film to figure it all out.
In short, "Unknown" is a fairly decent mystery thriller. Good performances. Good story for a mystery. Good music. Good cinematography—I particularly like the whole gray, dreary atmosphere that reflects the film's location's bleak weather. Good twists. Good suspense— the sound mixers must've had a kick in adding emphasis on sound effects to startle the audience. The one thing I will note is that Liam Neeson is really showing his age. This is not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary, it helps his character out. It gets tiresome that Hollywood always uses the generic 30-something year old actor with smashing abs who is tossed into a terrible situation. It is nice to see an aging actor play an upper middle-aged man who has perhaps lost his mind while running away from people trying to kill him.
In short, "Unknown" is a fairly decent mystery thriller. Good performances. Good story for a mystery. Good music. Good cinematography—I particularly like the whole gray, dreary atmosphere that reflects the film's location's bleak weather. Good twists. Good suspense— the sound mixers must've had a kick in adding emphasis on sound effects to startle the audience. The one thing I will note is that Liam Neeson is really showing his age. This is not necessarily a bad thing; on the contrary, it helps his character out. It gets tiresome that Hollywood always uses the generic 30-something year old actor with smashing abs who is tossed into a terrible situation. It is nice to see an aging actor play an upper middle-aged man who has perhaps lost his mind while running away from people trying to kill him.
I wanted to love this film, as I'm a big fan of Liam Neeson.
This was a pretty good movie. It was overall enjoyable to watch, and it had good twists to the story. It was action packed, and as such Neeson delivers. January Jones is, unfortunately, a terribly cold actress and is the same character as all of her other films. I do like Diane Kruger though, and she was fairly charming in this.
I enjoyed watching it. It's a good weekend, sit-down-and-enjoy thrill movie, as one would expect from its description. It is by no means a movie I'd recommend for its artistic merit, but it definitely delivers in the traditional thrill-seeker movie. The plot is pretty good as well, and well executed.
This was a pretty good movie. It was overall enjoyable to watch, and it had good twists to the story. It was action packed, and as such Neeson delivers. January Jones is, unfortunately, a terribly cold actress and is the same character as all of her other films. I do like Diane Kruger though, and she was fairly charming in this.
I enjoyed watching it. It's a good weekend, sit-down-and-enjoy thrill movie, as one would expect from its description. It is by no means a movie I'd recommend for its artistic merit, but it definitely delivers in the traditional thrill-seeker movie. The plot is pretty good as well, and well executed.
Beforehand I didnt expect anything from this movie, I just wanted to watch a B-movie, with lots of action and thrills, to keep me awake. But I got more than I expected, and although I was sleepy when I started watching it, I was wide awake midway through. This is just another one of those unmistakable well made Liam Neeson thrillers.
If you liked the Liam Neeson Taken series then you will surely love this movie as well. It' s fast, suspenseful and with lots of slick and cool looking photography and editing. I mention these technical details, because lots of action movies just dont get it right when it comes to fastpaced action photography. This one does.
Liam Neeson travels abroad with his wife for business. He gets into a car accident by himself and when he wakes up in a hospital, someone else has taken his identity.This story might sound ridiculous, and for sure, it is a bit of a ridiculous story, but it is executed in such a way that is still quite suspenseful and captivating.
There are many resemblances with the Bourne movies. Memory loss, being chased by assasins in foreign countries (Germany), fast action sequences and lots of suspense. It is a really decent action thriller, which the fans of this genre will surely have a good time with. It is a bit better than the average action movie, although dont expect originality either...
If you liked the Liam Neeson Taken series then you will surely love this movie as well. It' s fast, suspenseful and with lots of slick and cool looking photography and editing. I mention these technical details, because lots of action movies just dont get it right when it comes to fastpaced action photography. This one does.
Liam Neeson travels abroad with his wife for business. He gets into a car accident by himself and when he wakes up in a hospital, someone else has taken his identity.This story might sound ridiculous, and for sure, it is a bit of a ridiculous story, but it is executed in such a way that is still quite suspenseful and captivating.
There are many resemblances with the Bourne movies. Memory loss, being chased by assasins in foreign countries (Germany), fast action sequences and lots of suspense. It is a really decent action thriller, which the fans of this genre will surely have a good time with. It is a bit better than the average action movie, although dont expect originality either...
Did you know
- TriviaFilming in Berlin proved very difficult as the city was undergoing its coldest winter in 20 years at the time.
- GoofsJurgen tells Harris that Stasi agents were taught that an innocent man always stuck to his version of truth while a liar reformulated his ideas. Actually, Stasi doctrine taught the exact opposite: a liar has invented a pre-programmed version of the facts and cannot change it, while someone innocent knows how to reformulate his speech and does it.
- Quotes
Dr. Martin Harris: Do you know what it feels like to become insane, doctor? It's like a war between being told who you are and knowing who you are. Which do you think wins?
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits are shown as clouds being viewed from an airplane blow past... not so crazy, except that it actually makes one of the credits unreadable.
- ConnectionsEdited into Action Jackson (2014)
- SoundtracksElevation
Performed by Sultana Ensemble
Written by Yoel Ben-Simhon (ASCAP)
Published by Lovecat Music (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Lovecat Music
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Desconocido
- Filming locations
- Tresor, Berlin, Germany(night club scene)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $63,686,397
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $21,856,389
- Feb 20, 2011
- Gross worldwide
- $135,710,029
- Runtime1 hour 53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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