We’ve been sent a rather intense clip from Justice, the new film starring Nicolas Cage and Guy Pearce. Lisa’s review of the film was posted an hour ago and judging from her words and this clip it appears to be superior Cage on offer this time around.

Cage and Pearce are joined by January Jones and this, is the synopsis,

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Yikes. Not one for the family then. But Cage and Pearce can pull out a decent performance when inspired and Jones, who has had a rough ride critically for her recent film appeareances will hopefully shine in this role.

Here’s the clip friends,

No stranger to staging well-paced crime thrillers, like The Bank Job, The Recruit and No Way Out, director Roger Donaldson is about as qualified as any to bring this gritty story of crime and revenge to the screen – all set in one of the most exciting cities in the US, New Orleans. But although most films cannot resist the seedy allure of the French Quarter – and this film is no exception in parts, Justice does try to delve into a more realistically captured but darker depiction.

Nic Cage stars as Will Gerard, a husband who enlists the services of a vigilante group, headed by its curious leader Simon (Guy Pearce), to help him settle the score after his wife, Laura (January Jones), is brutalised. However, Will gets involved way over his head and tries to get out of the deadly pact he has made. The trouble is whom can you trust?

While the film is a half-decent enough thriller with so many twists and turns it trips itself up at times, the basic thriller ingredients have been tried and tested a lot better before, so a good proportion of the film feels like a carbon-copy of others we’ve seen. Granted, the thrill for Cage fans is seeing their hero in a rather physical role, dodging traffic and hanging from underpasses that even leaves him rubbing his head (more than once, and usually in the car) in exasperation.

What is most intriguing is the film’s main idea of disenchantment in a wounded city still hurting from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, leading to self-served justice, and this gives the whole affair an empathetic but equally menacing edge. Cage is the ideal star to tap into this darker aspect.

Like Will, Cage has a crazed, risk-taking side that the New Orleans setting flatters and seems to nurture, and an increasingly erratic Cage is more than capable and watchable in this type of action role as he makes it his eccentric own. The issues come not from his portrayal, but from the complex – and sometimes irrelevant – labyrinth of subplots that Donaldson and writers feel are necessary to throw at him. With too much at play, other things naturally go unexplained.

Sadly, we only get to see a one-dimensional and frustratingly under-developed performance from Pearce, for example, with no explanation as to where his loyalties stem from – even though we understand that his character and others are designed to be as enigmatic as possible throughout to add to the intrigue. On the plus side, Jones, who normally adds the cutesy glamour to any scene, does some of her best work yet as the victim in the first half of the film, only to be sidelined in the rest as a pawn in the increasingly paranoid Cage dance with death. Still, it’s a vast improvement on her usual film roles, and one we’d quite like seeing her tackle again.

Justice is well staged at the start and has the presence to go far. It’s just the sum of its parts – like the random journalist murder subplot – don’t add up at times and make it feel somewhat disjointed. Cage fans are guaranteed a thrill at seeing him in action, with Ghost Rider elements of a mortal Blaze out to serve and protect the ‘ordinary man’ – and Cage is always satisfying in this type of ‘moral crusader’ role. It’s just a shame Donaldson’s film doesn’t fully realise that immense talent, having him running from pillar to post throughout – and making us rub our heads in anguish at times, too.

**½~~ (2.5/5)

Last week, we saw the first trailer for Nicolas Cage & Guy Pearce’s new movie, Justice and now Momentum Pictures / Alliance have released the first UK poster for the movie. The movie also stars January Jones of Mad Men fame and hits UK cinemas 18th November.

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Click the poster below to enlarge.

Momentum Pictures / Alliance have released the first trailer for Nicolas Cage Guy Pearce and January Jones’ new movie, Justice which according to IMDb is / was called Seeking Justice in the US. This may be the title in the US or it’s an old title but I’ve confirmed that the title is simply ‘Justice’. It’s directed by Roger Donaldson and is set for release in the UK November 18th and after seeing this trailer, I’m looking forward to it.

Popular high school teacher Will Gerard (NICOLAS CAGE) lives a life of content domesticity with his beautiful musician wife Laura (JANUARY JONES). Until one night’s horrific events, turns their world upside down.

After Laura is violently attacked and left traumatised in hospital, Will is approached by a well-dressed stranger (GUY PEARCE) offering to dispense immediate justice to the attacker and save the couple from an emotionally traumatic trial. Distraught, Will accepts the proposal but soon learns justice comes at a price.

Entering a crowded arena Unknown is a film which forces you to compare and in doing so leaves you wanting something more.

Like other Neeson vehicles of late, it finds our hero with an insurmountable task to perform, a sort of Mission: Unknown here, but unlike previous endeavours such as Taken, a film I found to be extremely powerful, or indeed the Mission: Impossible franchise, this latest effort left me rather cold. It lacks the purpose and integrity of his previous films and places him squarely in the hard man mould, which I do not feel he meets as comfortably without an intelligent storyline or mythology to work with.

The film begins with the arrival to Berlin of Dr Martin Harris and his wife, played by the adored January Jones of Mad Men fame. We quickly find out that he is there for a conference and spoon fed the critical importance of his briefcase that is lost within the first few minutes. This is what causes Dr Harris to get into Gina’s cab (Diane Kruger) with the aim of returning to the airport where his case was left upon arrival, but he never gets there.

A road accident sees him being saved by Kruger, hospitalised and after missing for a few days, finding it nigh impossible to reenter his life. His loving wife, his colleagues and all others he has come to contact with do not recognise him and with his identity in question he finds himself in a strange city doing, what to me seemed, relatively strange and somewhat predictable things.

Jaume Collet-Serra’s direction adds some pace but is more concerned with lingering shots of what he perceives to the important things: the briefcase, the hanging bag, Prof Bressler’s (played by Sebastian Koch) daughters, January Jones’s posterior, and the story remains lacklustre which leaves us watching the plotholes go by when we should be carried quickly along past them.. Neeson plays it as though he means it, but above all it is the women that impress in this film, especially Kruger, who does not require a glitzy ball gown to shine.

If I was to be kind I would say that this film tried to do too much in attempting to incorporate famine, scientific innovation, religious and cultural contradictions, charity and the complexity of human relations as themes and it was this rather than a poor script and lack of direction that brought on my existential crisis less than half way through it. I watched it out of curiosity and would not warn you off it completely, but I doubt you will find it particularly satisfying and will probably be left feeling like watching a more authentic example of the action genre or just a different film from Neeson’s back catalogue as soon after as possible.

Special Features

• Unknown: The Story: Concept to screen which reinforces the notion that this extended Twilight Zone espisode gained a lot from its lead actor’s previous form, which leads us nicely to…
• Liam Neeson: Known Action Hero: Perfunctory look at the remarkable transformation of Neeson into an action star – not exactly steeped in depth and would have benefitted with a lttle historical context.
• Behind The Scenes: Behind the Scenes.
• Interviews with Liam Neeson, January Jones, Diane Kruger, Jaume Collet-Serra and Joel Silver

{Rating:2/5]

To celebrate the release of Liam Neeson’s action-thriller Unknown, out on DVD and Blu-ray on 18^th July, we have five Blu-ray copies of the film to give away!

A man claiming to be Dr Martin Harris awakes in Berlin hospital with severe head injuries and very little knowledge as to how he got there. The doctors inform him that he has been in a coma for four days after surviving a near fatal car crash. Attempting to piece together the incidents leading up to the accident, he discovers that his wife no longer recognises him and another man has assumed his identity. Now the only thing standing in the way of him and the truth is a deadly team of trained assassins who will stop at nothing to have him killed. It’s time for Dr Harris to face his identity, his sanity and take back his life… by force.

Starring Liam Neeson (Taken, The A-Team), Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, Troy) and January Jones (Mad Men, X-Men: First Class), Unknown is a gripping mystery pumped with visceral action and an explosive revelation around every twist.

To be in with a chance of winning, all you need to do is answer the following question:

In which city does Liam Neeson’s character awake from his coma in Unknown?

1. Prague
2. Sarajevo
3. Berlin

For more information on Unknown Blu-ray and DVD go to http://www.facebook.com/UnknownUK

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Terms and Conditions:

• Competition will end on Monday 18th July
• Five winners will receive 1 x Blu-ray each
• There is no cash or other alternative to the prize stated and the prize is not transferable and no part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
• Winners will be picked at random and contacted by the site.
• The Editor’s decision is final and binding on the entrants. No correspondence will be entered into.
• Competition open to UK entrants only

We’ve gone X-Men: First Class crazy over the past few months for the simple reason that we love it. You can see why by reading Adam’s review of the movie here. Twentieth Century Fox have sent over this brand new clip for the movie which is called Training Montage and does what it says on the tin.

X-Men: First Class is directed by Matthew Vaughn (who we caught up with yesterday and the fruits will appear on HeyUGuys in the next few days), produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon. We should be seeing the film this week and are very excited about it!

Synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

X-Men: First Class is out NOW and we think you should go and see it!

Last week I got to spend some time with Spanish actor Alex Gonzalez who makes his big Hollywood debut as Riptide tomorrow when Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class is released in the UK. Riptide  is the the tornado-conjuring mutant henchman of chief villain Sebastian Shaw..

In the interview, I got to find out what it was like to work on such a huge summer blockbuster and the challenges he was faced with.

Synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

It’s pretty likely that this article is late. Following on the heels of (at least eight of) our competitors. That’s because we believe that the interesting part of the interview this article comes from is the rest of it.

Frankly, reporting about Mark Millar’s next project, one we’ve already written about seems pointless. We like Millar as much as the next site. In fact, we like him more, but as a film site, any comic book news isn’t so much out of date, as never made it into date.

We are, however, behind his projects. For this reason, we’re giving you the following news on his/Vaughn’s Superspy/Untitled project Q: What about that Superspy thing that you were doing with Mark Millar? At one point he was associating you with that.

MV: I co-created it with him.

Q: Are you still involved in that?

MV: Yes.

Q: Will we hear more soon?

MV: The weird thing is, we came up with a great plot, and great characters, and it’s weird, because I’m telling it to my kids every night. What I do is tell a story to my kids and see what they react to or not. The Superspy thing, I don’t like the name, I don’t know where he came up with that shitty name, but it’s the tone I haven’t figured out yet. I rang up Mark, and said, ‘I’ve got this idea. You know what you did for Kick-Ass, why don’t we do this for spy movies?’ and  we both came up with characters which are cool, but the problem is, I cannot decide which way to go. I could make a really great kid’s film, but I don’t want to be spy kids, or I could make it really hardcore. You know how Kick-Ass did sort of fall between, is this a kid’s movie, or is this an adult’s film or neither?’ That’s the problem I have with the Superspy thing, because the plot is great, and the characters are great, but tone is important, and we haven’t figured out the tone of it yet.

Q: Is it next?

MV: Right now I want three or four months doing nothing, then I’ll start thinking about movies. I’m just burnt out at the moment, so the idea of getting back behind the camera, right now for the first time ever is not exciting me. But we’ll see.

X-Men: First Class is now a week away from release and (courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter) we have three images which will surely whip up some X-citement, particularly amongst those male fans.

Mad Men’s January Jones is bad guy Sebastian Shaw’s second-in-command, and as you can see from her Bond-esque 60’s bodysuit, fur-shoulder number and her scantily-clad get-up, she doesn’t need to use any of her mutant powers to ensnare the enemy.

Each look has been created by costumer designer Samantha Sheldon, and her all-white, stunning array of costumes can’t help but conjure up the perfect visual representation of her character’s name in the film (Emma Frost).

It’s enough to make Wolverine’s adamantium claws melt.

We’ve gone rather X-Men: First Class barmy over the past few days but that’s because we LOVE it! If you haven’t seen Ben’s initial thoughts from the movie yet, you can have a little read here where in a nutshell he tells you how much he loved it! Our full review of the movie will go live on Wednesday but in the meantime, Twentieth Century Fox have have given us this brand new and exclusive TV spot from the movie for you which is called Origins and Future.

X-Men: First Class is directed by Matthew Vaughn (who we caught up with yesterday and the fruits will appear on HeyUGuys in the next few days), produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon. We should be seeing the film this week and are very excited about it!

Synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

X-Men: First Class is released 1st June and we think you should go and see it!

Hey X-Friends, I think you’ve had just about enough teasing for the forthcoming X-Men: First Class film haven’t you? No? Why read on then.

Comic Book Movie spotted this nifty little piece of high class clippage which throws in a few behind the scenes moments and interview with the principal cat into the huge wave of footage we’ve seen so far. Kevin Bacon looks oddly suave and menacing and there’s a lot of love in the UK for the team of Fassbender and McAvoy so it’ll be very interesting to see if Matthew Vaughn’s film will spark off a whole host of sequels with the new team climbing into the yellow and black.

Anyhoo here’s that clip. We’ve seen the film but are under the shadow of a large embargo shaped cloud so you’ll have to wait to hear what we made of it.

Note: These are our initial thoughts and our complete review of the film will be posted on Wednesday, 25th May.

Fox’s X-Men franchise has become a little tarnished of late. After two very good movies, that used superpowers as a background to themes of isolation, discrimination and acceptance, we had two less good films, let down by poor storytelling, and bad CGI. It’s rather pleasing then, that X-Men: First Class takes the series back to its roots, both figuratively, in terms of the character-focused drama, and literally, as we open with an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the beginning of Bryan Singer’s first X-Men film. In doing so, the film makes itself instantly familiar, and also, instantly engaging.

That sense of engagement carries throughout, as the story covers much less familiar territory. After an expansion on young Erik’s experience in the death camp, and a brief introduction to a young Charles Xavier, we move forward to the 1960s, and the film enters the world of Connery-era bond. With a mix of scantily-clad girls, nuclear threat, and a submarine-bound evil villain, the movie could well have veered into Austin Powers-style parody, but Vaughn manages to stay on just the right side of camp, keeping his tongue firmly out of his cheek, but also reserving the real sincerity for the relationships between the characters.

Indeed, it is in the treatment of the characters, and their relationships that the film really triumphs. Wisely Fassbender, McAvoy and Lawrence don’t even attempt to mimic the performances given by Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Romijn in the earlier films in the franchise. Instead, Fassbender’s Erik feels almost Bond-like, both in his intelligence, and in his drive to get the job done, while McAvoy plays Xavier as a charming but conceited version of TV illusionist, Derren Brown. This creates a beautiful interplay between them, and their relationship, both the close friendship, and the underlying tension, is believable and immensely enjoyable to watch.

Alongside this pair, Lawrence holds her own as Raven. The close, fraternal relationship she shares with McAvoy’s Xavier in the film may well upset the dribbling fanboys, angry at any change to canon, but also serves as a strong counterpoint to the interplay between McAvoy and Fassbender, and she is very much the emotional heart of the film. Around this core trio, the rest of the ensemble cast work perfectly, and the decision to keep the number of characters down means that each of the supporting cast feel fully rounded, and not simply there as fodder.

The other key relationship for the film is that between Singer and Vaughn, and frankly it’s seamless. Vaughn’s ability to direct action, and sense of humour run through the film, while the film still feels very much like a part of the world Singer created in his movies.

There’s a lot more to say about X-Men First Class, but we’ve promised not to give a proper review of the film until the 25^th May. Check back then for our full thoughts on the movie.

Twentieth Century Fox have released a new batch of International character posters for their new movie, X-Men: First Class which are mildly better than the ones we’ve seen previously.

The movie is directed by Matthew Vaughn, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon. We should be seeing the film this week and are very excited about it!

Synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

In the posters we get to see more of Emma Frost, Professor X, Angel, Havok and Beast X-Men: First Class is released 1st June.

Source: CBM and Shockya

Love this new clip from X-Men: First Class. It gives us a good look at the abilities of Hank McCoy / Beast played  by Nicholas Hoult.

The movie is directed by Matthew Vaughn, produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon. We should be seeing the film this week and are very excited about it!

Synopsis: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon. In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

X-Men: First Class is released 1st June.

As with seemingly every other tent-pole release of this summer, X-Men: First Class is ramping up its already considerable publicity and marketing campaign, ready to make the last big push for that now all important Big Opening Weekend.

We have had teasers, trailers, posters, international trailers, character spots and now a further TV Spot along with a veritable arsenal of further pictures (all nicely set out below for you, dear reader), seeking to reassure us, if ever there were any doubt, that this instalment of X-Men will offer more cleavage than ever before. I can’t see too much that’s terribly new in the TV spot, aside from a bit of beach-based explodey business and the assorted photos are very much in line with what we have already seen of Shaw, Xavier, Beast, The Man in Black, Mystique et al, though that shot of Kevin Bacon looking all menacing with his surgical appliances looks interesting. Hopefully it will be something a little more novel than the usual “experimenting on mutants” guff.

Feast your eyes on it all and then let us know whether you’re up for more of the X-Men universe or whether you couldn’t care less. Personally, I think this is shaping up to be one of the treats of the summer. Enjoy.

Sources: Cinema Blend, Latino Review, MovieWeb.

To celebrate the release of X-Men: First Class on 1st June, Twentieth Century Fox have given us a rather nice merchandise selection to give away to five of our lovely readers! X-Men: First Class is directed by Matthew Vaughn, Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner, Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg  and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon.

The prize pack contains:

• Mouse Mat
• Silicone Watch
• Battle Disks
• Stationary Set
• Cap
• Metallic notepad

X-MEN FIRST CLASS charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga, and reveals a secret history of famous global events.  Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop Armageddon.  In the process, a grave rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

To be in with a chance of winning this great prize, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Question: Who directed the movie, X-Men: First Class?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 6th June at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

There’s no doubt that the best marketing strategy for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class is to churn out these production stills and tear down the Photoshopped monstrosities that make up the poster campaign.

This new picture from the film comes from the film’s Facebook page and shows off Lucas Till as Havok who, for those keen on their X-Men continuity, is Scott Summers/Cyclops’ younger brother Alex and it looks like the young Summers is getting to grips with his mutant power.

The more I see of the actual film the more I’m looking forward to seeing Vaughn finally take hold of an X-Men film. Not long now until the 3rd of June when the film is released.

Here’s the pic,

The current conventional wisdom regarding ‘Hollywood’s’ recent output seems to be that it is fresh out of ideas. Blockbusters have become infantile, disposable and interchangeable. Whether or not this belief holds any truth, I personally believe it is a oversimplification of the current situation, it does seem to be clear that the films making it to the multiplexes are becoming even more ghettoised than they were previously, fitting into easily identifiable boxes. The idea of ‘aiming’ films at a certain audience seems to have been taken to extremes and whilst films constantly dispute this approach, it shows no sign of disappearing. Perhaps as an antidote to the perceived infantilism of the blockbuster, perhaps an attempt to effectively target an audience who rarely visits the cinema or maybe even just as a result of a natural shift, there seems to be a spate of ‘intelligent action thrillers’ that are neither intelligent or thrilling coming out of Hollywood. Buoyed by the financial success of Inception this is a trend that could very well continue with little attention paid to whether they are actually any good.

Into this arena steps Unknown. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Liam Neeson this European set thriller has all the trademarks of a low rent mindless action movie – a nonsensical plot, characters that boil down to simplistic stereotypes, poorly constructed and executed action sequences and a high concept premise that relies on the belief that a bump on the head will cause partial amnesia and further bumps will bring back that memory piece by piece. If Unknown succeeded as an action film then fantastic, a good action film is a good film but its constant failings means it never comes close to success and the schizophrenic approach in which the filmmakers seem to be labouring under the belief that they are making an intelligent action thriller makes it all the more disastrous.

The plot ensures that the film never veers into anything vaguely approaching intelligent storytelling with a structure that is entirely reliant on Neeson’s central character remembering salient pieces of information at the exact moment he needs to, or in many cases a few seconds after they would have actually have been useful. The constant twists and turns in the narrative have led some to label this kind of thriller Hitchcockian but unlike even Hitchcock’s weaker films nothing about Unknown convinces an audience that these events are really happening and without the feeling of being trapped with the character as the events unravel, that was key to many Hitchcock films, we are left observing ludicrous things happening to ludicrous characters.

The film opens with a mildly intriguing first act in which the American scientist Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arrives in Berlin with his wife Elizabeth (January Jones). The couple are separated with Elizabeth checking into a hotel and Martin racing back to the airport to pick up a forgotten piece of luggage. On the way there he becomes involved in a car accident that results in his amnesia inducing bump on the head. Saved by the heroic skills of taxi driver Gina (Diane Kruger) he is dropped off at the hospital where he stays until he awakes, becomes increasingly distraught and finally discharges himself. Rushing to the hotel he finds his wife with another man who she claims is her husband, Martin Harris. Neeson’s character then enlists the help of ex-Stasi officer turned private investigator Ernst Jurgen (Bruno Ganz) and ultimately taxi driver/illegal immigrant Gina to try and figure out what the hell is going on. Cue woefully executed car chases, uninspired fight sequences and a plot that derails itself with contrivances and absurdities at every turn.

The direction and editing of the car chases is particularly egregious with a seemingly incessant need to cut to extreme close ups of gear changes, handbrake shifts and feet hitting pedals. The reason for this appears to be the desire to tell the audience that this is a really thrilling car chase that’s fast and action packed. Clearly this was deemed easier than actually making a car chase that is thrilling or action packed. The experience is akin to an excitable child behind you making “vroom vroom!!” noises to suggest strongly that the car is going fast. At no point do you believe it though and after a very short amount of time it becomes incredibly annoying. The hand to hand fights between characters are equally weak with efforts to inject kineticism through the editing and composition failing to make rather dully choreographed action look interesting. Unlike Liam Neeson’s previous action romp across a European city Taken (a film which undoubtedly played a part in Neeson’s casting here) or any of the Bourne trilogy (a trilogy that Unknown is indebted to, for better or worse) , Unknown seems to take no joy in the action. There is no gleeful bone crunching visceral absurdity that at least added a bit of ‘fun’ to those films. No, the makers of Unknown seem to be firm in their resolve that this is serious and intelligent, thereby missing out on the only thing that could have saved this daft thriller, enjoyment.

Perhaps the only area where the film falls into being fun is in an entirely unintentional one and that is in the performances. With the exception of Bruno Ganz, who seems to be trying to expertly act his way out of the bad script, and to a lesser degree Diane Kruger, the performances are laughably bad. Whether down to a bad script, poor direction or lousy editing (all are present) or even just terrible work on the actors’ part Unknown runs the gamut of things that can go wrong in a performance. January Jones comes out of it the worst though with line readings that are impossible not to just roll your eyes and laugh at. The stilted, awkward way she delivers the line, “Are you crazy?” is a hot mess highpoint. A guilty pleasure moment derived from it being so bad it’s almost good but this is hardly a point to recommend the film on. Liam Neeson fairs a little better but still seems to be partially comatose for most of the film. Albeit in keeping with the story this seems to be more born out of a weak performance than any commitment to the character’s mental state. His more emotional scenes are littered with dreadful lines of exposition badly delivered and at one point Frank Langella even appears to seemingly just to help him out with some of the more ridiculous expositional dialogue.

Even tied to a tricky high concept Unknown still had all the potential to be an exciting action film, a smart and well told story and an enthralling thriller with a high class international cast and a characterful European location but ineptitude and idiocy render this a disastrous and vacuous mess.

*½~~~ (1.5/5)

There is a lot to be said of Liam Neeson’s new role as 21st Century action man, formed in films such as The A-Team and Taken and cemented in his latest film, Unknown, which makes the most of this new persona.

Neeson stars alongside Diane Kruger, January Jones, Frank Langella, Aidan Quinn, Sebastian Koch and is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, a man whose career is moving into increasingly interesting territory.

The excellent people at Upbeat sat down with the director, Neeson and January Jones to talk about the film, which is out in the UK tomorrow.

Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson, TAKEN) awakens after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife (January Jones, MAD MEN) suddenly doesn’t recognise him, and another man has assumed his identity. Ignored by disbelieving authorities and hunted by mysterious assassins, he finds himself alone, tired and on the run. Aided by an unlikely ally (Diane Kruger, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS), Martin plunges headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question his sanity, his identity, and just how far he’s willing to go to uncover the truth.

Here’s the vid,