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Unknown


The critical consensus

I should warn you that Unknown gets very silly towards the end, but it's still a twisty, proficient B-movie thriller. And in many ways it's even better than Taken, building up a nice atmosphere of Polanski-esque paranoia, and throwing in a lot of skidding car-chases.

***(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 01/03/2011

An unmemorable Euro-thriller that frustrates more than it thrills, squandering an attractive cast and inventive premise.

**(*)(*)(*)Mark Salisbury, Total Film, 02/03/2011

Unknown is more The Return of Martin Guerre meets Memento.

***(*)(*)Kaleem Aftab, The List, 02/03/2011

There are holes in the plot, but the film skips over there. It exhilarates us with lithe liberties no less than with crack cameos.

***(*)(*)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 02/03/2011

The plot twists are occasionally loopy but Neeson is on safe turf here and director Collet-Serra shows a deft eye for an action sequence.

***(*)(*)Kim Newman, Empire Online, 03/03/2011

By the time Unknown had ended there had been so many handbrake turns and howling improbabilities I barely knew who I was, never mind the real identity of Dr Martin Harris.

**(*)(*)(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 03/03/2011

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

**(*)(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 03/03/2011

Neeson is a stolid, alpha-male presence but, to me, he never looks seriously scared or worried.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 03/03/2011

A stodgy and leaden thriller.

Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 03/03/2011

A very straightforward thriller.

***(*)(*)Chris Tookey, Daily Mail, 04/03/2011

As a psychological teaser it has nothing on Memento, and the denouement is the daftest imaginable, but there's a serviceable urgency even once plausibility is knocked out cold.

**(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 04/03/2011

Fun for an hour. After that, Unknown plums hitherto unknown depths of silliness.

**(*)(*)(*)Daily Record, 04/03/2011

The film, directed by Spanish genre hack Jaume Collet-Serra, seems to have confused itself with a sedate character piece when the premise demands relentless brain-off fun.

**(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 05/03/2011

Lacks the thrills and dramatic charge of kidnap-thriller Taken.

***(*)(*)Daily Express, 04/03/2011

A good psychological thriller.

STV, 05/03/2011

Enjoy it and then forget it.

Philip French, The Observer, 06/03/2011


Features about Unknown

Interview: Diane Kruger, actress

Karl Rozemeyer, The Scotsman, 15/02/2011

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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