Unknown - Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD)

The premise is interesting but ultimately this film falls into being implausible and stereotyped. Massive plot holes. eg why on earth would a secret agent go back to a ticking bomb? and why didn't the man just ring in a bomb warning rather than going there and arguing with them? And why would you kill your best agent simply because he had been injured? These and many more questions left me feeling less than satisfied with this film.

Still enjoyed this thriller despite the improbability of the plot, the rather bland villains and the choice of actors to play certain key roles. For example Neeson's love interests played by Diane Kruger and January Jones are 25 odd years younger that the big star. Come on casting director he's old enough to be their father. And he is no Robert Redford or Paul Newman so unlikely that he would attract their attentions unless he was a millionaire, which he wasn't.I make the same complaint about much older films starring the likes of Cary Grant or James Stewart but I know I'm nitpicking. Please, make things more plausible, it helps.Anyway, a good action thriller with a complicated plot that finally gelled half-way through its 108 minutes, with two wonderful cameos from the late Bruno Ganz (died earlier this year) and Frank Langella.Probably a better film in the genre is Polanski's 'Frantic' in my opinion. However apart from an awful obligatory car chase Neeson gives the film some momentum and is well worth a watch as a change from his usual tough guy who can take anything and everybody on and win though. There were shades of his alter characterizations towards the end of the film however.English subtitles for the hearing impaired, and interviews with participants plus many more bonus features.

Great cinematography, makes up for a highly unlikely plot (an academic botanist quickly learns hand to hand combat and advanced stunt driving, as if!) and Liam Neeson still can't pass convincingly as an American, he doesn't even try with the accent and verbal nuances, he will always be Irish, and Hollywood will always be Hollywood. Better viewing than most of his films, has an edge of seat quality that means cinema viewing isn't ideal, but watching at home with the pause control is. I watch films like this in 15 minute chunks.

I do find it distasteful and a bit unnecessary when the assassin types casually kill minor characters that marginally get in their way. Can't they just render them unconscious? Anyway, apart from that I was really hooked with this film that kept you guessing with the usual immaculate performance by Liam and great support by January Jones and Diane Kruger.Leaving his wife at the hotel to dash back to the Berlin airport for his forgotten briefcase and passport, he is involved in a car crash in which the taxi driver we later know as Gina (Diane Kruger) saves his life from the river. After being in a coma for 4 days he wakes with bits of his memory missing though is aware that he's Dr Martin Harris there to speak at a biotech conference. Or is he? His alleged wife, Liz (January Jones) doesn't recognise him and she's already with her husband, Dr Martin Harris and so his nightmare begins. More and more incidents and action unfold and I was kept 'in the dark' till the last reel leading to, for me, a totally unseen twist while throwing in a decent slice of redemption.

Fresh from his exploits in Taken it was obviously a good idea to exploit Neeson's newly minted tough guy persona while still fresh in the mind of the film-going public: hence Unknown, a shamelessly derivative product if ever there was one! Perhaps I'm being a little too harsh, but I think not. Naturally, it's impossible to escape our cultural influences and we cannot look at anything without looking through the filters of our experience and here we have a perfect example. Whether consciously put there or otherwise the visual echoes of previous productions flicker and sometimes beam from the screen almost blindingly throughout.But this isn't meant to be a criticism: for the movie buff it's all part of the entertainment! We have bio-scientist, Dr Martin Harris (Neeson), arriving in a snowy, wintery Berlin accompanied by his wife (January Jones). Almost three decades before, in Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, we had physicist, Dr Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), arriving in Copenhagen accompanied by his fiancée (Julie Andrews). Both esteemed American scientists are visiting European capitals to give presentations at an important scientific conference.On arriving at their hotel Harris realizes that his briefcase, containing important items like a passport and his presentation papers, has been left at the airport and, bizarrely, without telling his wife he hops back into the taxi and returns to the airport hoping to retrieve the lost briefcase. However, calamity strikes and the taxi is involved in an incident that causes it to swerve and hurtle through a barrier into the icy river. Harris is knocked unconscious but the female driver, who we later come to know as Gina (Diane Kruger) is able to escape and make the surface. She realizes Harris is still in the car and manages to dive down and save him!He wakes up in hospital and is told he's been `out' for four days. Immediately discharging himself he manages to make his way back to his hotel to find his wife who steadfastly refuses to recognize him having in the meantime mysteriously acquired another husband, Dr Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn), who has all the necessary documentation to prove that he is the real Harris and Neeson the imposter!So which one is the real Harris? Since Neeson is the star, it must be him, surely! But just like Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) before him in North by North West, he has a tough job persuading just about anybody! However, he's given the name of a private detective, a former Stasi operative named Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz) who acts as the `wiser older mentor' type figure a la, Dr Brulov (Michael Chekov) in Hitchcock's Spellbound. Jurgen advises `Harris' to find the taxi driver, Gina, as he thinks she may be the key!And, indeed, this turns out to be a valid assertion. Gina, just like Michelle (Emanuelle Seigner) in Polanski's Frantic, who aids Harrison Ford's Dr Richard Walker (a `mere' medical practitioner) in an `unknown' Paris, proves to be just the kind of streetwise, knowledgeable young sidekick `Harris' needs.So, we've seen many of the elements before but the principal source seems to be Hitchcock, primarily, in North by North West: even an evil though amiable and courteous `Mr Big' a la James Mason's, Phillip Vandamm, in the form of Frank Langella, enters the action about half way through and January Jones and Diana Kruger are a kind of amalgam of Eva Marie Saint's, Eve Kendall.Fittingly, then, after suitably Machiavellian plot machinations, the film ends on a train. It might be derivative but very entertainingly so!

This was good. Sometimes you come across movies with a logical plot, impressive acting, fantastic twist and a plausible ending. This is one of them. Excellent chases, explosion, spies and the greater good of the humanity are all the parts of the show. I think Liam Neeson was the best actor for his character, who turns out to be not what you think he is. Memory loss or not exactly a memory loss? Hugely satisfying entertainment.