'Unknown' is a Fast-Paced, Solid Thriller

Director Jaume Collet-Serra's "Unknown" is an easy movie to overlook at a time when the Oscar contenders are all around, but it is a solid thriller, one that will leave you breathing hard and feeling challenged as the credits roll.

It is the story of a professor attending an important international conference in Berlin who becomes separated from his wife because of an auto accident, then finds he has lost his identity--and his wife--to another man. He is confused, angry and intent on getting to the bottom of what happened. And that's the rub. Nothing is as it seems and Liam Neeson's Dr. Martin Harris is left to put together an unlikely coalition of an illegal Bosnian immigrant, a former German secret service spy and a few other incidental people to sort it all out.

The supporting cast--particularly Frank Langella and Diane Kruger--is solid and the writing is fast-paced and intelligent.

It is playing at several theaters in the Roanoke area. (This movie is not to be confused with 2006's "Unknown" with Jim Caviezel.)