| Original Score: B | Feb 18, 2012

In the French-made, English-language sleeper Taken, Liam Neeson was a former CIA operative who was (outlandishly) able to thwart a sex-trafficking ring. Audiences responded vociferously to his take-charge character. His latest film, Unknown...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.1/2 | Jun 24, 2011

May eventually surrender to convention and implausibility in equal measure, but until then, Collet-Serra grounds the conspiracy with a proper sense of mystery and mood.

| Jun 21, 2011

Enjoy it and then forget it...

| Mar 7, 2011

Liam Neeson deserves a huge pat on the back for reinventing himself as the most violent middle-aged man in Hollywood. I'm just not gonna be the man to do it. As I'd probably pull back a stump.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 5, 2011

A nifty final twist, but it is so joyless and heavy-handed I found it impossible to like.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 4, 2011

If this all sounds rather like déjà vu, then consider yourself one step ahead of the game.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 3, 2011

Scene by scene, the movie is clunky and laughable, but it's certainly never dull.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 3, 2011

There are holes in the plot, but the film skips over them.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2011

The movie rather crumbles when it eventually has to deliver its secrets.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2011

For about an hour or so, "Unknown" is intriguing.

| Mar 1, 2011

This is no more (but no less?) than what we have rather oddly come to expect from Neeson in his late period (Taken, The A-Team) -- not quite a riddle wrapped in an enigma, just a paycheck gig cloaked in an actioner, moonlighting as a travelogue.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 25, 2011

While elements of this one are downright awesome, the final product is sadly forgettable, and for all its strengths it's doubtful this is one I'll be talking about one way or the other come the end of the year.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 18, 2011

Neeson's comforting intelligence (and a marvelous turn by Bruno Ganz as an ailing former member of the East German secret police), are not enough to prevent the film from choking on obviousness and directorial fumbling.

| Feb 18, 2011

Unknown" obviously knows its limitations, and it doesn't bother to rise above them. It just keeps throwing the punches the audience wants and expects. It won't cure world hunger, but chances are it will sell a lot of popcorn.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 18, 2011

The cat-and-mouse game that the filmmakers are playing with us is only partially successful because this thriller is only intermittently thrilling. Instead of being captivated by the twist and turns, we're more likely to be rankled.

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 18, 2011

The snow and haze that Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra keeps pumping into the street scenes seem to have drifted into the script as well.

| Feb 18, 2011

The elements are there - a (mostly) strong ensemble, an interesting concept, an intriguing location, a promising director - but the film never comes together because the script needed one more rewrite that it just never received.

| Original Score: 2.5/5.0 | Feb 18, 2011

The art of the classic Hitchcockian thriller is about style, pace and misdirection -- and though Unknown is occasionally baffling and involves running and car chases, the film rarely manages to thrill.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 18, 2011

Despite its A-movie aspirations, as the chases continue and the plot holes widen, Unknown quickly settles into the familiar B-movie comfort zone.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 18, 2011