Unknown DVD Review: ‘Taken’ The Sequel

Will America ever get tired of seeing Liam Neeson kicking ass? I don’t think that’s possible. Unknown is available on DVD today, and while it may have a different plot than Liam Neeson’s last ass-kicking movie Taken, it is still equally as enjoyable.

As the film begins we see that Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is in Berlin on business and has his lovely wife on his arm (January Jones). Shortly after arriving and realizing that a piece of luggage was left at the airport, he finds himself back in route to the airport – and shortly thereafter in a pretty serious car accident. After awaking 4 days later, he returns to find his wife doesn’t recognize him – and another man (Aidan Quinn) has taken on his identity as Dr. Martin. To make matters worse, he’s ignored by the authorities and now he’s being hunted by a group of men who are trying to kill him. Dr. Martin finds help in an unlikely place with the cab driver Gina (Diane Kruger) who saved his life after the accident.

Not everything is as it seems. And the audience soon finds their selves asking as many questions as Dr. Martin.

Without doubt Unknown is entertaining. One major flaw I continued to see throughout the film was that so many of the scenes benefited from an unnatural occurrence of events. The action inside the scenes were just made to be a little too convenient. For example, when Gina is chasing after Dr. Martin in her car and just happens to look to a parking deck to her left a thousand feet away and notice there is a confrontation on the top level – thus pursuing it assuming it’s Dr. Martin.

Also once the film concludes, you’ll find yourself questioning several other scenes throughout the film. Which at the time, needed to play out the way they did in order to keep the end of the film a mystery – but at the same time those scenes don’t seem to fit anymore once you learn what is going on. I don’t want to say much more than that as I don’t want to give it away. The film keeps you guessing, which I appreciated – I just feel that it should have been done more cleverly to allow all the previous scenes in the film to still have meaning once the film concluded.

The special features are lacking on this release. There’s a a featurette on Liam Neeson and how he solidified his action star status, and then there’s another featurette which examines the characters and plot. Nothing to exciting.

All in all – it’s an enjoyable film, and if you enjoyed Taken then you’ll love this one. It’s essentially the sequel.

Grade: B
Review By: Emma Loggins

Unknown Official Website: http://unknownmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/
Unknown on Amazon: Unknown (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)