(REVIEW) Unknown: Uninspired

I must admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for Liam Neeson.  I was first became aware of him in fourth grade.  He was introduced to me in the manner most likely to grab my idolizing attention as an elementary schooler: I saw him play a jedi onscreen.  Though my taste in prequels as a wee lad of 10 was somewhat questionable, I retain a certain fondness for Liam Neeson's work.  You've got to harbor a little respect for a man with the versatility to portray Jean Valjean, Oskar Schindler, Alfred Kinsey, Zeus, Aslan, and Ra's al Ghul.  Recently, he's become more and more the action hero, starring in 2008's warmly recieved Taken and the critically-panned The A-Team reboot.  In Unknown he continues this trend, starring in what turns out to be a derivate amnesia tale with just barely enough interesting twists to make it watchable.

The movie opens with Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arriving in Berlin to attend a conference with his wife, Elizabeth (January Jones).  On his way back to the airport to retrieve some forgotten luggage, Harris' taxi is forced off a bridge and suffers a head injury, erasing any recollection of the days events from his mind and putting him in a coma for four days.  When he returns the hotel to find his wife, he finds that she does not recognize him, and that she is accompanied by a man claiming to be the real Dr. Martin Harris.  Harris's memories of his past life are thrown into question, and he sets out to discover who he really is.

This first half-hour is the film's highpoint, in which Harris questions his identity and becomes increasingly paranoid about prying eyes, both real and imaged.  Once Harris discovers that people are indeed out to get him, the plot becomes formulaic and plays out similarly to The Bourne Identity.  Just as in The Bourne Identity, Harris quickly picks up a young female sidekick, and among car chases and small apartment stand-offs the conspiracy-riddled plot is eventually uncovered.

Neeson sells the role right off the bat, but seems like he's trying too hard at intensity in several scenes.  His emotional scale for all intents and purposes has two settings in this movie-- he's either calm and determined or barking out lines in a gravel-gargling rage.  Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz play excellent supporting roles as illegal citizen Gina and Ernst Jurgen, respectively.  January Jones' portrayal of Mrs. Harris, however, is wooden and unconvincing.  When she attests that she's never seen her husband before, you don't believe her for a second, causing twists later on in the film to lose their dramatic impact.

The film works in several red herrings and acts of misdirection that  will most likely keep viewers on their toes, and it manages to do this while not letting these twists muddle up the story.  Sadly, many of the action sequences are sprinkled with unintentionally humorous moments that break the dramatic tension, such as cars that unnecessarily burst into flames or lines of dialogue where Neeson is trying way too hard to maintain an American accent.  

Despite its occasional moments of surprise, Unknown feels a little to derivative of other popular films in its bloated genre.  Neeson's star power helps keep the movie afloat, but don't expect to be walk out of the theater wowed by either its plot or presentation.  I'd recommend skipping the film in theaters.  Save it for a rainy-day Netflix viewing.