SPOILER ALERT
I knew right from the start, thanks to the trailer, that Liam Neeson's latest Joel Silver produced thriller Unknown was one of those high concept stories that relied on a big, old, M Night Shyamalan twists at the end. I also suspected that that twist would be completely bonkers thanks to the participation of director Jaume Collet-Serra who directed the also-nutty Orphan. Given these facts, I imagined the most bizarre twist ending I could and then just settled in to await the inevitable finale.
Afterward, it was with great relief that I wanted to wrap my arms around Unknown and give it a huge hug and a gert big kiss to say thank you. Thank you for not having a philosophical or brain hurting supernatural twist like Jacobs Ladder or Vanilla Sky. I am so so glad I was wrong because it meant that the viewing experience was worthwhile...I got something out of it.
What you do get is an hour and a half Hitchcockian thriller with an out-of-his-depth everyman fighting for his life and identity, alone in an unfamiliar foreign city (Berlin). The twist basically delivers a film which is like this, this or this...except with the key plot point delivered at the end, rather than at the beginning. It's got a slick Euro feel, delivers it's thrills with suspense and drama rather than an abundance of action and rollicks along dependably for it's running time.
But most of all it's plot twist makes sense, is far more credible than the fantasy I conjured up, and it'll keep you engaged and guessing. Not bad at all.
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