Unknown Released 4 March 2011 Director Jaume Collet-Serra Starring Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Frank Langella, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz Writer(s) Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell Producer(s) Leonard Goldberg, Andrew Rona, Joel Silver Origin United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, Japan, United States Running Time 113 minutes Genre Action, thriller Rating 15A

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'Taken' Part Deux?

Ballymena’s Liam Neeson has had a long and interesting acting career. A jobbing actor for years with supporting roles in the likes of Excalibur and The Mission, he made the move to Hollywood in the early ‘90s. Roles in minor hits like Suspect and Darkman finally earned him the coveted lead in Schindler’s List, which really made him a household name.   

After that, it looked like he’d become an A-list star, but the likes of Rob Roy and Michael Collins were box-office failures so it never really happened. He’s had to content himself with supporting roles in blockbusters like Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Batman Begins. He’s also found time for lots of well-received stage work and some decent leads in the likes of Kinsey and Seraphim Falls.   

He probably thought this was his lot in life but in 2008 he made a small film that he fully expected would go straight to DVD. Taken was the story of an ex-CIA man who comes to Paris to search for his daughter who’d been kidnapped by white slave traders. Scripted by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morrel, it was a straight out action movie but it surprised everyone by taking over $220 million at the worldwide box office. It became that thing that’s so rare and so prized by film executives; the word of mouth hit.  

So at the age of fifty-eight (looking ridiculously well on it, it must be said) Liam Neeson has now become an unlikely action hero. It worked once why not try again? So he's back again with a French director, playing a desperate man with a dodgy American accent kicking ass in a European capital city.   

Based on the book Out of My Head by Didier van Cauwelaert, this time it’s Berlin and Neeson plays Doctor Martin Harris, who arrives in the city with his wife (January Jones) to make a speech at the biotechnology summit. After a mix-up at arrivals, his suitcase is left behind and leaving his wife at the hotel, he rushes back to the airport in a taxi. The taxi accidentally crashes into a river but he is saved by the driver Gina (Diane Kruger).   

Gina, a Bosnian illegal immigrant, scarpers before the police arrive and Neeson wakes up in hospital after four days in a coma. He can just about remember his name and the hotel they were staying at. Released from the hospital, he makes his way back there but when he greets his wife, she claims not to know him. Worse still, she’s accompanied by another man (Aidan Quinn) who claims to be Martin Harris. After Neeson creates a scene in the hotel, he’s brought back to the hospital where he begins to question his own sanity. So is Neeson going mad or has his identity been stolen? All will be revealed with plenty of action and car chases thrown in.   

This is quite agreeable nonsense and a much more entertaining film than Taken which was frankly a bit nasty and reactionary. The plot is of course ludicrous and derivative but it's pulled off quite well and has a twist I genuinely didn't see coming. Neeson is dependable as ever in the lead role, although poor Kruger is as wooden as ever. Jones and Quinn provide reasonable support but Bruno Ganz steals the show as a former Stasi officer turned private investigator that Neeson goes to for help.   

It's no classic, but it's an entertaining night out and there’s a lot to be said for that these days with the rivers of unwatchable garbage on offer in cinemas. It opened at number one in the US box office, so Neeson's career as an action hero seems to be going from strength to strength.  

Who’d have thought it?

- Jim O’Connor