Unknown

An accomplished thriller that seems to have arrived in 2011 from the seventies, when masterpieces like The Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin and The Quiller Memorandum were being made. Everything seen (the strangely atmospheric, gloomy Berlin, the progressively gritty Neeson, the sympathetic Kruger, the charismatic Ganz, one of the best car chases in recent times) and heard (the good Ottman) was great. The final twist wasn't that much of a twist, but I can't complain. It's a shame that Unknown was unable to avoid a few horrible clichés in the finale. I still give it four stars. I had fun and I was tense.__P.S. I don't know what was supposed to be mysterious about the film. (07/09/2011)

The perfect film after coming back from Berlin. While the real Berlin is a city that takes one's breath away, in this film the area around the Brandenburg Gate serves primarily as the axis of the story. The fact that it's all built on Liam Neeson's acting confidence also doesn't hurt, of course. I'll also never despise Sebastian Koch. (19/09/2013)

After reading the plot summary I made a bet with myself as to whether I would give 4 or 5 stars. Unfortunately, I lost in both cases and I'm still quite disappointed. The whole movie kind of unfolds without surprises with a lot of unnecessary car chases. Only the excellent ending is above average. Otherwise nothing new under the sun. A little better 3 stars. (02/07/2011)

Unknown doesn't come up with groundbreaking or new. By unraveling the puzzle surrounding the main character's identity(ies), it additionally brings back into play one recent fashion wave, BUT... Jaume Collet-Serra proves once again, after the brilliant Orphan, that his first film was a necessary evil for its time in order for him to enter Hollywood, and only now can he show what all is brewing within him. I won't lament the plot, which again follows a template that has been seem many times. Serra has a way with actors that is absolutely perfect, and his baby works especially when he’s playing the paranoia card. The ending, however, offers something that has not failed to amaze me of late. That something is the current acting position of Liam Neeson, who, on the verge of sixty, has switched to the role of uncompromising action hero who hides under the guise of civilian ordinariness, only to shoot accurately and deliver a hard hits at the right moment. His ruthless charisma permeates the entire film and makes you forget that it doesn't fit the logic in places. PS: The extremely kind Arab sheik and a former Stasti member as positive characters? :) (27/05/2011)

Many reviews here mention something about a (dumb) punchline suffering from lapses in logic. Quite on the contrary, I think that the story logically (whether or not clever, is a different matter) links and smooths out apparent over-complexity and lapses in logic with something that makes sense, but you must bear in mind that this is a genre movie not pretending to be anything more, so it would be naive to expect anything sophisticated à la Hitchcock. And it works fine, the same as the story in the last thirty minutes. When you add to this the uncompromising Neeson, the snowy atmosphere of Berlin and the great car chases, then... You simply have a quality genre movie. (03/06/2011)