Liam Neeson (left), Diane Kruger and Bruno Ganz confer. (Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)
Germans have bad memories,” says a cynical former secret-police agent in the solidly crafted and often darkly funny suspense thriller “Unknown.” The writers who concocted this outrageously entertaining tale of an amnesiac fugitive played by Liam Neeson obviously had no problem at all recalling many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films.
Much smarter than most of the dreck dumped on the unsuspecting public at this time of the year, “Unknown” deploys such formidable talents as Diane Kruger (“Inglourious Basterds”), Bruno Ganz (Hitler in “Downfall” and a thousand viral spoofs) and Sebastian Koch (“The Lives of Others”).
They’re stylishly directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who has sure come a long way since the abysmal 2005 remake of “House of Wax” with Paris Hilton.
Neeson plays Martin, a scientist who arrives in Berlin with his icy blond wife (January Jones of “Mad Men”) to address a global conference on biotechnology. While she’s checking in, Martin hops a cab to the airport to retrieve an errant attaché case.
Instead, the cab ends up in a river, and Martin wakes up from a coma four days later in the hospital, suffering from memory problems.
Just how bad these problems may be is revealed when Martin belatedly shows up at the conference, where another man claiming to be Martin (Aidan Quinn) has taken his place at his wife’s side.
Eluding an assassination attempt back at the hospital, the passport-less Martin (who has lots of cash) turns for help to the former secret-police agent, a dying old man played with great humor by the scene-stealing Ganz. Martin also enlists the very reluctant assistance of the cabbie (Kruger) who plucked him out of the river — she’s an illegal Bosnian immigrant.
There are loads of twists, red herrings and MacGuffins, as well as an Arab prince in the script, supposedly based on a French novel but more than slightly resembling the 1965 Hitchcock-style thriller “Mirage,” starring Gregory Peck.
Plot holes you can drive a truck through are ultimately less important for your enjoyment than how they set up the film’s big set pieces.
There are a pair of excellently staged car chases (one involving a streetcar) and a rooftop pursuit, all of which make inventive use of the German capital.
Also reminiscent of Hitchcock is some wry humor, including a hilarious scene in which Martin and his doppelganger both try to convince a genius biochemist (Koch) they’re the genuine article.
Frank Langella, in a small but crucial part as a longtime associate of Martin’s, has a particularly memorable, suspense-filled meeting with the old secret-police agent.
Neeson, who is probably the closest actor we have to Gregory Peck (who also played an amnesiac in Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”), lends a gravitas that gets us past some potentially eyeball-rolling moments.
He has great nonsexual chemistry with Kruger, who fortunately has a lot more screen time than the badly miscast Jones.
“Unknown” actually has enough of a sense of humor to admit what it is: hybrid corn. But it’s been crossbred from Hitchcockian stock.