Have you lost track of how many movies Liam Neeson has done? I’m starting to see him in everything, action, adventure, crappy, good, romantic comedies…everything. I’m trying to figure out how many movies I own/seen that he’s been in. I mean just look at IMDB page, he has 3 movies in post production, 3 flicks filming, and 2 in pre-production. Can you find someone who works as much as he does? I sure can’t… Just in the last few months, I’ve reviewed 3 of his movies: Dark Knight Rises, Love Actually and The Grey.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Bruno Ganz
Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife (January Jones) land in Germany for a conference under the invitation of Dr. Bressler (Sebastian Koch). When he arrives at his hotel and his wife is is inside checking in for the Eisenhower Suite at the Hotel, he checks over the suitcase that is unloaded and realize that one of them is left at the airport. He quickly gets into another taxi to go back. However, him and the taxi driver (Diane Kruger) get into an accident. When Martin wakes up four days after the accident, he is in the hospital and all he has are flashbacks of his wife. He doesn’t have any identification so the hospital wasn’t able to contact his wife. Suddenly, when he remembers his purpose in Germany, he goes to find his wife at the hotel, to realize that she doesn’t know him and refers another man (Aidan Quinn) as his identity. In confusion, he seeks to find the truth of why his wife doesn’t recognize him. As he retraces his steps, he gets the taxi driver Gina involved as they try to find out what is actually happening and who Martin actually is.
This is a fast paced action mystery thriller where the process is way better than the ending. I found the ending underwhelming for one. I was engaged and intrigued by the story as more and more questions popped up during the flick. The cast was all people that I enjoyed and recognized. This looked so promising in the beginning but ended in such an average fashion.
Liam Neeson was pretty good in this movie. To me, this wasn’t as good as he did in The Grey, but that movie had an amazing plot. This one lacked a little something. However, he was still enjoyable to watch. Aside from Liam Neeson, I recognized the man who is supposedly impostering him, Aidan Quinn. He’s in one of my favorite new TV series, Elementary and I was extremely happy to see him in the movie. He’s totally awesome and he does decent with what he’s given. Then we have the lovely Diane Kruger. I first saw Kruger in National Treasure, I find her a charming actress and this one she’s did a good job. I’d also like to share a love for the actor who played the private investigator that helped Martin search the truth, Bruno Ganz. He was amazing. I think he was possibly my favorite character in this one. The lines he got was just total awesomeness. I have never seen him in anything prior to this but the appearance he made on the screen kicked up the suspense even more.
I don’t talk about the directors ever, because a lot of times, there’s rarely anything I want to say. However, for this one, our director is one Jaume Collet-Serra. I know this man from his previous work that I saw during my Halloween month last year. I didn’t write a full-on review of the movie but I loved it. Its a little horror thriller called Orphan. That movie sure thrilled me. Although ranked in Rotten Tomatoes at about the same as Unknown, I found that one delivered more than this one. The basis of that movie had a lot more mysteries and surprise moments that this one didn’t have. But I’m not exactly sure comparing action thriller to horror thriller is along the same line…
I know there’s a lot of comparisons here making this sound like I didn’t enjoy the flick. A good action thriller gives me entertainment a bit of suspense and gives me fun moments I had fun with it for the good part. However, my feeling of a movie always drops a bit when met with an unsatisfying ending. The potential was there, and it could’ve worked alright but it just lost control of what it was doing and became slightly predictable. I’m not exactly sure thats how I’d describe it, something just didn’t work for me but I’m can’t seem to pinpoint what.
I’m not going to recommend this as much as I’d say that its a decent movie that you could catch if it ever presented itself. Entertaining and action-packed for a good part supported with good cast makes it a decent watch.
What do you think about Liam Neeson? Whats your fave one? How about worst?
Tranquil Dreams 