Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson race through the fast-paced but cogent &quot;Unknown.&quot;
Diane Kruger and Liam Neeson race through the fast-paced but cogent "Unknown."

Much like last year's "Taken," "Unknown" features Liam Neeson as an average American who single-handedly takes on the criminal underworld of a vaguely hostile-to-the-U.S. European nation. Unlike "Taken," "Unknown" is good.

It's the sort of movie we get so rarely these days — an intelligent, beautifully put-together suspense drama — so it's tempting to overrate "Unknown." I was thrilled to be watching a movie that had: a) wit, b) a breathless car chase that makes inventive use of a windshield wiper, c) a hero whose dilemma is involving, d) great acting and e) a mystery that bothers to put the pieces together gradually instead of having somebody who's about to die spill it all out in his final words. But I will admit "Unknown" has a few issues.

The good stuff first, though. The plot is as simple and classic as a little black dress. Neeson and January Jones are a scientist and his wife attending a conference in gray, wintry Berlin. He gets in a car accident, and when he wakes up, no one will believe he is who he says he is — not his doctor, not his wife, not the guy (Aidan Quinn) who is now using his name. We've seen Neeson and Jones together, so we believe Neeson's telling the truth, but unfortunately for him, that makes one of us.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra, who made the wickedly brilliant shocker "Orphan," makes a lot of good decisions in "Unknown," beginning with the performers. No actor does solid rectitude better than Neeson, so there's sly logic in casting him as a man who begins to wonder if he knows who he is.


January Jones is also used well as a "Hitchcock blonde." Like the master's Grace Kelly and Eva Marie Saint, she's an icy beauty whose motivations are very much in doubt even if, in a clever touch that makes us worry for Neeson, his faith in her is never shaken. A trio of wily character actors — Frank Langella, Bruno Ganz and Karl Marcovics — bring gusto to their roles as authority figures Neeson bumps into. And Diane Kruger does her best work as a Berlin local who helps Neeson. Except, come to think of it, she looks an awful lot like Jones, so is she really helping him?

Fast-paced but cogent, "Unknown" has similarities to a pair of movies with Harrison Ford, the previous king of solid rectitude. Both "What Lies Beneath" and "The Fugitive" are echoed as "Unknown" beats up on Neeson while he tries to clear his name. It's not quite as good as either of them, mostly because Collet-Serra dawdles too much over the resolution. Once we know what's going on in "Unknown," it needs to tidy things up quickly, but Collet-Serra, who has trusted us to put together the pieces so far, lingers over details to make sure every "i" is dotted and "t" is double-crossed.

I wish he'd paid more attention to the name of his own movie. Things get a little shaky once the facts are known, but everything speeds along smoothly while it's still "Unknown."



Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones

Rated: PG-13, for a lot of violence and some strong language

Should you go? Yes. Collet-Serra isn't on the level of Alfred Hitchcock yet, or even Brian De Palma (whose "Dressed to Kill" is saluted in a museum scene), but he's heading confidently in that direction. ***