Unknown

Unknown - Warner Bros

Unknown is a flashy action thriller, full of twists and turns and lots of car chases; since the film is set in Berlin it is mostly Mercedes doing all the chasing, and who knew those staid old cars could careen around corners like that? And take a bullet -- many, many bullets, right through the hood, and the engines just keep roaring.

Liam Neeson is a professor of biotechnology, come to town to deliver a paper at splashy biotech conference, very high profile because a Saudi Prince will be in attendance to promote a top secret project that might end world hunger. Prince Shada has been the target of assassination attempts -- there are bad guys opposed to ending world hunger, if they can still make a buck off starving people – so security is tight and press coverage intense.

But Dr. Martin Harris has a mishap: he is in a terrible car accident and falls into a coma for days. When he wakes up, no one seems to know who he is, including his wife Liz (January Jones). Slipping out of the hospital against his doctor’s orders, Martin tracks her down at a formal event, trailed by outraged hotel security. Perfectly coiffed and stunning in an elegant black gown, she looks right at him and says, without emotion, “I don’t know this man.” Then she calls over another guy (Aidan Quinn) and introduces him as Dr. Martin Harris.

Well, what a pickle! Martin half believes his brain was broken in the car wreck, but then an assassin starts to trail him and he figures that, whatever is going on, he isn’t imagining it. He can’t remember much about the events that led up to the car accident, but he does recall the young cab driver (Diane Kruger) who was at the wheel -- she heroically saved his life -- so he tracks her down and they team up to solve the mystery. (As cab driver Gina, an Eastern European illegal trying to stay under German police radar, Kruger is spunky and resourceful, shielding a luminous innocence behind cautious reserve. She and Neeson pair up nicely.)

There are twists and turns and twists in this film, the action is well paced and there are plenty of edge- of-your-seat moments. It doesn’t break any new ground or explore any deeper issues, but it’s a lot of fun. Rated PG-13 for “violence and action, and brief sexual content,” and while there is a lot of gunfire, there isn’t much actual bloodshed, so if that sort of thing makes you squeamish you should be okay. Unknown was the box office champ in its opening weekend, but that isn’t saying much because hardly anyone went to the movies. Still playing everywhere. B-