Dreaming and reality are two completely separate realms of life. When one sleeps, one doesn’t realize he or she is in a dream until waking up. That whole time spent asleep, the brain tricks a person into thinking everything that’s happening is real. Only a sane person can distinguish between fact and fiction. But there are times when the two worlds—reality and fantasy—collide. This confusing concept is explored in the film, Unknown, directed by Jaume Colleg-Serra.
Starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, and January Jones, Unknown starts out with a man, named Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson), and his wife, Elizabeth (Jones), who are on a flight to a biotechnology conference in Berlin. When on a frantic search for a forgotten item, Martin ends up in a severe accident, resulting in severe amnesia when he wakes up in a hospital some time later. He must then attempt to reconstruct his life as he remembers it, while everyone around him appears to have never met him before.
As a great fan and secret admirer of Liam Neeson, I may be a little biased in concluding that Unknown is a fascinating movie. What can I say? Neeson is a great actor and for being almost sixty, he’s pretty “light on the eyes”. But I digress…
I loved Unknown specifically because I was pleasantly surprised that the film exceeded my original expectations. Walking in, I already had decided that it was going to be painfully predictable and I probably just wasted seven dollars but it was nothing like that. Similar to a mosquito bite one discovers several hours after the incident, I wasn’t immediately impressed with the film until I thought about it more after going home, and discovered its deeper message.
I have not stopped thinking of Unknown since I saw it, and it is most definitely not a waste of money seeing it in theaters. The way it was filmed was brilliant because it goes back to a lot of the same places but the second time, more of the story is revealed than one realized before. In addition, the word “oz” is used as a major motif, interwoven throughout the script.
One of the downfalls of this movie is the missing action in this “action” thriller. It’s pretty slow and subtle, not like it was featured in the commercial, with explosions and car chases, which is disappointing. Personally, I think adding more action to this movie would have overshadowed the underlying message so I guess I can say it worked for what the director was trying to convey.
Another thing I didn’t like was the ending. It was too farfetched and I felt as if there should have been more of a questionable ending to keep up the eerie quality in the movie. It would have been better had the film kept the viewers guessing even after the credits are done rolling.