Dad spends a night in the mancave: Unknown

Sometimes an actor builds up such good will with their audience that they’re able to star in trite on wheels, but people will still see it and like it.  Maybe they won’t ‘like it’, but they’re not going to go out and trash it, usually.  Unknown tries to bank on this characteristic that exudes from Liam Neeson.

Audiences, for the most part, have forgiven him for The Phantom Menace and laid that dreck solely at the shoes of George Lucas.  Liam Neeson started this segment of his career by playing Ra’s al Ghul in Batman Begins, nailed it in the A-Team as Hannibal and starred in the best dad movie ever-Taken.  Liam Neeson is a man’s man and a fan boy’s actor extraordinaire.

Spoiler, stop reading here if you plan on wasting your time watching Unknown.

Unknown starts out with Neeson and his wife, January Jones arriving in Berlin.  Once they get to the hotel, Neeson gets in a horrible car accident, develops amnesia and realizes that nobody knows who he is.  His wife doesn’t remember him, his identity at work has been replaced and the only person who can help him is a taxi cab driver in the country illegally.  It turns out that the man who replaced Neeson is in on the gig too, they’re all spies out to do a job until Neesom gets a conscience and turns the tables.

Neeson was posing as a scientist who was speaking at a biotech conference.  Their target is a person who has designed a corn blend that can grow in any climate with very little to no water.  But, our kind hearted scientist is going to give the corn formula away to poor countries instead of selling it for profit.  So the evil corporations are going to off the German scientist (and his two young girls) in a terrorist bomb attack.

Those evil corporations are always doing bad things, like making crappy movies with great actors.  It would’ve been better if the movie was a bit corny, then parts of it would’ve been excusable.  Had Unknown been lighter and fluffier it would be a highly enjoyable movie of the week.   However, as it stands it’s just a disappointing big budget movie that looks too much like Taken, The Hangover and a Bourne movie blended together.

Dad spends a night in the mancave is a series about what guys do when women aren’t around to judge them for what they watch on television.  It’s those really bad science fiction movies, questionable action films or something starring Bruce Campbell that really can be enjoyable through the lens of a guy.  We may reveal plot points to the movies that are discussed, so if you’re looking for ‘reviews’ then head on over to a site that will talk about awards, movies with subtitles or produced by Miramax, cause it isn’t here.