I had a lot of expectations going into Unknown, which may have been the problem. After watching the trailer I was so excited and energized about the movie that my mind went into overdrive trying to figure out what the huge twist might be. After all, the concept presented in the trailer was so intriguing how could you not wonder what the underlying twist was?
Unknown is a smart, complex, and exciting movie. It’s filled with plenty of action, suspense, and thrills. But if you start to think about what’s going on to early on you start to drive yourself crazy. Too many times with these types of psychological thrillers over-analysis can turn a fun ride into a tedious adventure.
Following Liam Nesson’s character’s car accident, I kept wondering if perhaps the twist was he was actually in a coma and what he was experiencing was dream. Thankfully, that was not the case. Unfortunately, throughout the film, my mind continued to work on trying to figure out the truth behind what was going on. When it was finally revealed, I was a little pissed.
I wasn’t pissed because the twist was lame, or far-fetched for the genre, I was pissed because my expectations were so ramped up that when it finally came there was no possible way for it to meet or exceed those expectations.
The twist is clever, complex, and rather intricate. Is it a tad over-the-top in its scope? Somewhat, and I think it could have been better, but it’s an effective and thrilling conclusion to a thought-provoking psychological thriller.
I love Liam Nesson, and he’s excellent in films like this. The rest of the cast – which includes January Jones – also delivers their A-game, making Nesson’s journey all the more challenging as he searches for the answers her desperately seeks. At times things come too easy for him, but when the roadblocks appear they are difficult for him to overcome.
Comparisons to Taken and the Bourne movies are fairly accurate, and much like The Usual Suspects once you know the twist it makes a second viewing have much less of an impact. But for what it is, Unknown delivers a wild ride that is worth the journey (just don’t think too much about the destination, you’ll go nuts!).
What did you think of Unknown? Leave a comment and let us know!