Unknown (2011)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on February 25, 2011 @ tonymacklin.net.

Unknown turns Hitchcock into Hitchschlock.

The movie is purring along nicely relying on character and suspense, until suddenly it takes a U-turn and goes on a violent car chase, which shatters credibility. From then on it never recovers, and it's pretty much of a shambles.

Sir Alfred may have utilized contrivance and happenstance, but he never got slaphappy and silly. Unknown runs over its characters, and then backs over them again until they are just pulp.

What started out so promisingly loses its way as it becomes yet another mind-boggling entertainment. It could have been so much more.

Unknown is a basic Hitchcock tale -- a man alone hunted by deadly forces, who joins with a woman to clear his name and regain his equilibrium.

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) flies with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) to Berlin to attend a Biotechnological Summit. When they reach the hotel, as she is checking in he realizes he left his briefcase with important papers and his ID at the airport.

Immediately he hails a taxi and heads back towards the airport, but an accident -- a potent scene -- sends him to the hospital and into a four-day coma.

Recovered enough to return to the hotel, he finds his wife who says she doesn't know who he is, and another man appears as her husband Dr. Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn).

Martin can't prove who he is, and then he has to go on the run as mysterious assailants try to kill him. He joins up with Gina (Diane Kruger), who also becomes a target. Together they try to avoid being killed by stunt men.

Unknown is one of those movies that make you feel depressed as you realize those in charge chose to make a potboiler.

Unknown has 9 producers listed in IMDB. [I thought I counted 12]. Whatever, it's a bunch. For every producer, you take away 5 IQ points, which leaves Unknown mentally deficient.

Liam Neeson is stalwart, and Diane Kruger is a fetching sidekick. January Jones should name herself April Jones, so she can say, "You thought I was an actress. April Fool's!" Grace Kelly or Eva Marie Saint, she ain't.

Accomplished actor Frank Langella (as Martin's friend) has a big moment that lasts about 2 seconds. Not exactly time to come up with an expression. But by that juncture, acting doesn't matter anymore.

The director Jaume Collet Serra got his Hitch on directing tv commercials. The screenplay by Stephen Cornwell and Oliver Butcher (really), from a novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert, is in tatters by the end.

Near the conclusion of Unknown, we find out that a scientist has created, "a new strain of corn."

That's a good tagline for the movie.