In that movie, the wrong briefcase was picked up at the airport, Ford stepped into the hotel shower, and when he stepped out, he found his wife had vanished. I was reminded of Roman Polanski's ' Frantic' (1988), in which Harrison Ford played a doctor attending a convention in Paris with his wife. 'Unknown' is a skillfully photographed and acted film, and few actors are better than Liam Neeson at playing a man who has had the rug pulled out from under him. All the same, it left me rerunning events in my mind and thinking, wait! Are we dealing with the Paradox of the Intended Accidental Consequences here, or what?

The movie has answers of a sort to some, not all, of these questions. If he isn't the real Martin Harris, why does he possess the briefcase containing the MacGuffin in the first place? But if he's a fake Martin Harris, who is the real one? I'm thinking, if I'm an operative for some sinister secret organization and I want that briefcase and the MacGuffin it contains, here's what I'll do: I'll knock off Liam Neeson, whoever he is, and steal the briefcase. Was the falling container an accident? Was it an accident that he got a (beautiful) undocumented Bosnian refugee taxi driver who performed a heroic rescue in icy winter waters? Was it planned that he would be able to walk into the biotechnology conference and find the (real or fake) Dr. Was it an accident he left the briefcase behind? If he hadn't, there would have been no need to return to the airport. Or possibly none of the above.īut let's do an instant rewind. The second taxi was waiting to pick him up. He only imagined he was on a plane with the real Mrs. Now his ordeal begins: How can he prove his real identity and understand the conspiracy that has taken control of his life?Īs a veteran thriller watcher, you can think of several possibilities here. He pulls himself together and races to the hotel, only to find that his wife says she has never seen him before and is happily married to the 'real' Dr. Harris is knocked unconscious, but his life is saved by the quick actions of the driver, Gina ( Diane Kruger).

Ever had that happen to you in Berlin?Ī container falls off the truck in front of them, the taxi swerves and plunges through a bridge rail, Dr. He tries to call her, but can't get a signal.

Harris and his wife get to the hotel, she starts to check in, he realizes his briefcase was left behind, and without telling her, he grabs another taxi to the airport. Was this an accident? If I'm carrying a briefcase that contains a cure for world hunger or a formula of mass destruction, I'm not gonna leave it on the curb.

Unknown 2011