Unknown (2011) Movie Review

by Kevin Faber

The 2011 movie Unknown takes audiences on a wild ride as Liam Neeson's character, a biology professor that has traveled to Germany for an important summit, navigates the pitfalls of having his identity stolen after an accident makes him lose his memory and leaves him without any identification, his only solid tie to life being his pocket journal and the pieces of his memory that still remain. Stranger still are the people chasing him and the woman that drove the taxi that he had been in when the accident occurred. 

While the movie is eleven years old, it still draws you into the action and suspense that is typically found in movies that Neeson stars in. However, there is also confusion, as his character's actions do not always match what his character's profession is supposed to be. It is artfully done, and the audience is left on the edge of their seats right up to the moment before the credits roll.

One of the pillars of the plot is how thorough the identity theft was. The person claiming to be the professor had his wife on his arm, a photo of them in his wallet, and even the professor's name on his driver's license. Everything pointed to the impostor being the professor, it was so detailed. However, there were a few things that did not make sense.

One of the glaringly obvious mistakes was the fact that the real professor left the briefcase with all of his important documents on the curb at the airport and trusted the taxi driver to load everything into the trunk without watching to make sure everything had indeed made it in there. This event alone was what caused the real professor to have to immediately turn around and go back to the airport, and the accident that started the whole process was a result of him having to go back. While he did eventually get the briefcase back, losing it in the first place was so careless of someone of his reputation that it is almost unbelievable. While it is understandable that people sometimes make mistakes, that briefcase contained way too much sensitive information to just be entrusted to a random stranger to put it in the trunk of his car, especially since there were things like passports and vital documents for the summit. It is not like he just lost an american express credit card.

Despite all of the hardships that he had to go through to understand what happened to him and the fact that he was put in danger and a lot of people died while he was being pursued, things almost seemed too easy compared to what someone might experience in a similar situation. His enemies had what were probably amazing MDR system on their computers, but they were pretty easily defeated in the end for what they were. The taxi driver he had gotten into an accident with stayed with him after he had tracked her down, even after he described who he was and what happened to him. A random nurse was able to send him directly to the person that would be able to help him figure out what was going on and said person believed his story almost without question despite how absurd it sounded.

While the movie is flawed, and a lot of the conveniences are most likely plot devices to keep the story moving so the movie does not take four hours to get to the big reveal and rescue, it is done in a way that makes the audience wanting more. There is also a satisfying ending instead of a cliffhanger, leaving the audience with more answers than questions while still leaving something to the imagination. Overall, the movie is wonderful, and should be embraced for its flaws because they make the movie work depite being unlikely. It is highly recommended, especially for audiences that live for the big plot twist at the end.