Unknown

Unknown casts Liam Neeson as Martin Harris – a mild mannered scientist who arrives in Berlin for a biotechnology conference and almost immediately falls into a coma following a car crash. Four days later, Martin awakes and sets out to find his wife (January Jones’ Elizabeth) – with complications ensuing as Elizabeth denies knowing him and even produces another man named Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn). It’s an irresistibly compelling premise that is, at the outset, employed to better-than-expected effect by Jaume Collet-Serra, as the filmmaker, working from Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell’s script, does a superb job of infusing several early sequences with a palpably tense and engrossing vibe (eg the scene in which Martin first confronts his wife is nothing short of riveting). Neeson’s expectedly solid turn as the baffled protagonist plays a key role in perpetuating the film’s engaging vibe, with the actor’s strong work going a long way towards both grabbing the viewer and heightening the impact of the central mystery. It’s only as Unknown progresses into its disappointingly meandering middle that one’s interest begins to wane, as Collet-Serra begins to emphasize Martin’s increasingly tedious investigation to an almost oppressive degree – with the less-than-gripping feel compounded by the filmmaker’s incomptent handling of the movie’s action sequences (ie enough with the shaky camerawork and rapid-fire editing already). And while the film admittedly does improve as the various pieces begin to fall into place, Unknown is never quite able to recover from its lackluster midsection – which ultimately dulls the impact of its action-packed, revelation-heavy third act (ie the whole thing is just not able to become as enthralling as Collet-Serra has clearly intended).

**1/2 out of ****