Unknown

Unknown *

"Unknown" is a carbon copy rip off of the premise of "Saw," which I would forgive if it didn't do such a lame job with it. And I can't believe that a cast like this could sink so low. Come on! I just formed some new found respect for Greg Kinnear after both "The Matador," and "Little Miss Sunshine," but "Unknown" seriously made me question his role choices. It isn't that "Unknown" is dull, its that there is nothing new here, and it has such a contrived technique of not letting the audience know the full story: memory loss. And this is what makes the film no fun. As an audience, we do not have the power to piece everything together before the characters do. We just have to watch them do it, which takes away any type of audience interaction.

The story may sound strangely familiar. After a very dull opening credit sequence, which even had me checking my watch a few times, we are introduced to a man in a Jean Jacket. Jean Jacket wakes up in the middle of a warehouse, and looks into a mirror. He asks himself one question-Who the f*ck are you? Suddenly, he hears the ringing of a telephone. He picks it up, and is mistaken for another man. He learns that there was some kind of hostage situation, and that someone is coming to the warehouse to finish the job. He hangs up the phone, and realizes that he isn't alone in the warehouse. There is the Handcuffed Man, who is chained to a small catwalk. There is the Bound Man, who isn't given much opportunity to move. And then there is Broken Nose and Snakeskin Boots. All the men have one thing is common: they do not know who they are, or what they are doing in this place. And then they piece together that there was some kind of kidnapper/hostage situation, which went horribly wrong. And in a scuffle, some kind of chemical was released into the air that caused them all to loose their memory of what happened. And now they have no idea who the kidnappers are, and who the hostages are. They try to form some kind of a pact, which fails and they begin to turn on each other, while at the same time trying to figure out what went wrong. And then there is another story, which involves the wife of one of the victims trying to deliver money to those who kidnapped her husband.

"Unknown" is the first feature by director Simon Brand, and you could tell. The camera work is shaky, and the visuals are dull and uninspired. The script tries too hard to be clever and the direction tries far too hard to be stylish. The main problem is that the audience could try and guess what the outcome would be, but there are simply no clues to guide us along the way. The revelations of everything are done through the method of memory loss. Every now and then a character decides to remember something crucial, which makes another piece fit. But it's only when Brand wants us to know something that he creates it. No clues, no interaction, nothing. "Unknown' refuses to be a fun experience, and does not even let the viewer review the film later, and discover things that he missed. There is nothing to miss! The performances are somewhat alright, but nothing special. Actors I respect like Kinnear and Barry Pepper seem to phone in their work, and Joe Pantiliano delivers the standard humor that one would expect from that role. Each character works as a carbon copy of every single character like this. And, without ruining everything, it's not that hard to figure out that Greg Kinnear isn't a bad guy. I mean, look at him!

"Unknown" looks and acts like a stage play. Most of the action takes place in one room, where the characters are forced to use their environment as a guide to help them with their problem. But it isn't a story that needs to be told. There is nothing clever or interesting about it. I also can't see this existing without the work of "Saw" in the past. The first scene involved a man waking up in a strange room, not knowing where he is, and then looking around. It was exactly like the opening for "Saw." By the end, I don't know if there were any plot holes. In fact, I don't even care. I just wanted this to be over. It's dull, uninspired, and does not offer anything new to the "who am I" genre. There is no fun to be had here, and in the end there is no point for this to exist at all. This is best left unknown.