Unknown [2011]

Prestige actor Liam Neeson’s career has been taking an interesting turn as of late: action star. Starting with 2008’s Taken and continuing with Jaume Collet-Serra’s Unknown, Neeson is, at 58, as believable an action hero as men and women half his age (or younger). Making use of timeless Hitchcockian themes, but also every action movie cliché, Unknown echoes Memento and is weirdly reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code. Sure, there a few plot holes here and there and, sure, January Jones is incredibly robotic and the pace is not entirely consistent, but its classic premise and stunning cinematography make it worthwhile. Every time I wanted to give up on it (and I wanted to give up on it a few times), it swept me back in.