BOTTOM LINE: Marketed as a “Taken” clone, but has more in common with a Bourne film, “Unknown” is a little sluggish in pace but is just held together by its intrigue and strong performances, with Liam Neeson comfortably leading the cast from the front.

THE GOOD: “Unknown” does not waste any time getting started, introducing Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife Liz (January Jones) arrive in Berlin, where Martin is due to give a presentation at a biotechnology conference. All goes astray when during a taxi ride back to the airport to collect his misplaced brief case, the taxi is in an accident and Martin is concussed. When he comes to, nobody recognises him, including his wife who mysteriously is with another man claiming to be Martin Harris. As one expects, Martin goes on the run and tries to identify what is happening to him, which leads to some unexpected twists and turns before he learns the shocking truth. The film does well with Liam Neeson in the central role, grounding the entire film in a reality that it comes close to breaking on many occasions. In many ways, the plot is borderline ridiculous, but with Neeson leading a great cast, you cannot help but go along with his journey. Some nice touches include former East German agent Jurgen, played by Bruno Ganz, and Frank Langella who plays the mysterious Rodney Cole, both of whom lend a delightful extra texture to the film. Visually, the film is quite beautiful to look at, and makes great use of its European locales. “Unknown” is a nice ride with a great cast.

THE BAD: The film is a missing a sense of urgency, and as such, misses an opportunity to truly capitalise on its almost paranoid Hitchcock-style premise. Rather than grabbing you by the scruff of the neck and pulling you in to the narrative, the filmmakers have chosen a more leisurely pacing of plot and as such, you never truly get in to it. There are no harrowing, or thrilling scenes to really grab your attention. A case in point is the hospital sequence where Martin is attacked after coming out of an MRI scan. There is no real tension in the scene, despite it being pivotal to Martin’s plight. Also, the overall plot is extensively transplanted from films like “The Bourne Identity”, but unlike that film, you do not feel any sort of sympathy for the lead character. At the end of the day, Harris is not a good guy, and although he makes things right, you never really get the sense that he is desperate to make things right once he realises what is going on. It would be easy to blame Liam Neeson for this in his performance, but its more a script and direction issue as neither take advantage of his presence on screen. At the end of the day, “Unknown” is pleasant enough to watch but you cannot help but feel this it also misses a golden opportunity to take advantage of a great premise.