Guest Review - Unknown

The inaugural guest review was submitted by a friend and co-worker who, quite possibly, 'wastes' as much time on movies as I do. Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, a review for Unknown by one Mr. Scott Abbott:

WARNING: Scott was able to stay pretty spoiler free in regards to the specifics of Unknown's plot. He does however, manage to completely blow Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince out of the water. I'm not sure that between the book, the movie, and the internet that there is anyone that this warning really applies to, but you've been warned just in case.

Unknown (2011), PG-13, 113 minutes - I just got back from seeing Unknown with my good friend - that dude that someone needs to check his brain - and let me tell you, I should have checked mine before I even took my seat in the theater. If there was a time that I wish I could have gone to see a movie with a blank mind, this was it. Here is why: if you have seen the previews, you have basically seen the movie. This is a case once again in which the marketing morons couldn't figure out how to promote a movie without spoiling the whole entire film. Not only that, but they managed to put together all of the action scenes in the entire movie in the preview. The more I think about it the more I ccould compare the marketing people for this movie to Twilight fan girls squealing over spoilers just because they've already read the book, or more accurately, the viral video of the one guy yelling out from his car window "Snape kills Dumbledore!". It just spoiled the movie that much for me.

I will admit, I fell for marketing's scheme and went to see the movie, so on that note good work, but in this case I really want to call out "False Advertising!!". Most of us, after seeing the preview, were easily deceived into believing this movie was going to have some elements of Liam's past action movie known as Taken. Sadly that is not the case with Unknown. Instead you get your typical "Who am I?" mystery in which the character isn't Person A, or Person B, but Person C. So after seeing the action packed trailer and coming back from seeing the movie I can tell you there is just one car chase and two fight scenes. Going back to the topic of the preview spoiling the entire movie for me, had I not seen the previews for the movie it probably would have had a slight twist at the end but after a few scenes in the middle of the movie you probably would have figured out the twist that was offered.

Overall, I have to say this movie is right in the middle. It's not great but it isn't horrible. If the previews didn't spoil the movie it probably would have received a little more praise. Unknown, in my opinion, was only good enough to see once, where as I still watch Taken regularly on an almost religious basis. If you want a great Liam Neeson action flick, watch Taken or check out one of his older videos like Darkman. If you haven't seen previews for Unknown and have no clue what I'm talking about, then see this movie at your own risk. At the least, I can say it's an okay movie for the matinee price if you have nothing better to see or do, but that's pushing the envelope.


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