Review of Unknown (2011) by James W — 08 Jun 2008

Sometimes you come across an indie crime thriller with a cast of well-respected but hardly star names in it and you get very pleasantly surprised indeed. 'The Usual Suspects' and 'Memento' spring immediately to mind. Then again, sometimes the script's failure to attract any star names tells you everything you need to know about what your expectations should be. Sadly, 'Unknown' is one such film.

It's highly derivative (of Reservoir Dogs, Saw, and yes Memento and The Usual Suspects), predictable (in that more or less everything you're led to believe turns out to be opposite of what's true), with its perfunctory, uncertain attempts to touch upon deeper themes (questioning if a person's actions can earn them forgiveness for past misdeeds) only adding to the frustration, and ensuring it's neverin danger of hitting the heights of the films it strives to emulate.

Having a bunch of characters with no past and thus no depth doesn't help build empathy, but all the film's secrets are revealed either too early or too sloppily, which fatally undermines the suspense anyway. You could look on the bright side and say at least it's short (just a shade over 90 mins), but that just adds to the inconsequential, throwaway feel to the whole thing. I wanted to like this film - Caviezel, Pepper and Pantoliano are good actors who rarely get the chance to shine they deserve - but they have all done better work before, and hopefully will do so again. 'Unremarkable' would have been a far more apt title.