Unknown

UNKNOWN (2011) - Mar. 19, 2011
A really enjoyable thriller about a man who, while on a business trip in Germany with his wife, gets into an accident and wakes up to find his life has seemingly been stolen.  I have to say, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.  There are definitely shades of Hitchcock here, and the film featured some really solid direction from Jaume Collet-Serra, who manages to keep things intriguing and suspenseful throughout.  There were some pretty great scenes here -- a couple of highlights included a scene with Liam Neeson trying to grab a pair of scissors (which struck me as particularly Hitchcockian in its execution) and a surprisingly thrilling car chase (which was probably one of the better car chases I've seen in a while).  Where Collet-Serra falls down horribly, however, are the hand-to-hand fight scenes, which are edited into oblivion and nearly incoherent.  That was disappointing, but there were only a couple of fight scenes so it wasn't a big deal.  As for the performances, Liam Neeson was obviously quite good, as was Diane Kruger as the scrappy cab driver who helps him out.  Sebastian Koch was pretty much wasted in a small, thankless role, but Bruno Ganz was quite memorable as an ex-Stasi private eye (there was a scene towards the end with Ganz and Frank Langella that was pretty much worth the price of admission alone).  ***1/2