Unknown

I seemed to find the trailers better than the movie. They did their job and made me interested in watching UNKNOWN. The interest waned early. A simple premise laking in scenery. Five men wake up in a chemical warehouse not knowing why they are there; let alone know how in the hell they got there. Confusion and paranoia brings with it fear and distrust. The men learn that a kidnapper is on his way with plans to kill his hostages. Now the men size each other up trying to distinguish if all are victims and who may actually be one of the kidnappers. The cast includes: Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano, Bridget Moynahan, Barry Peppper, David Selby and Adam Rodriguez.

Since the characters begin with "Unknown" identities, they not identified by name, so you start with handsome James Caviezel waking up in a warehouse. He finds out the place is locked up tight. Don't ask - the windows are made with security glass, and it's impossible to get out. Four other awakening men make it a quintet - Mr. Caviezel in his "Jean Jacket", Barry Pepper in a "Ranger Shirt", Greg Kinnear with a "Broken Nose", Joe Pantoliano as a chair "Bound Man", and Jeremy Sisto shot and "Handcuffed Man". Oh, Man These five men have collective amnesia. They think that three of them are kidnappers, and two are victims - but, they don't know who is which or which is who. The forgetfulness is due to a pipe leak. Don't ask - it happens. Meanwhile, on the outside, lead lawman David Selby (as Parker) sends his cops to solve the kidnapping while one of the men's wives, Bridget Moynahan (as Eliza Coles), frantically waits. But, criminal element's gang leader, Peter Stormare in "Snakeskin Boots", is also on his way to the scene. Like the DVD synopsis says, "As secrets are revealed and clues unraveled, (the five men) must race against time to figure out who is good and who is evil in order to stay alive." This story reads a lot better than it looks on film, unfortunately. When the secrets are finally revealed, and memories become clear, there is no longer much interest in what has happened. Simply, director Simon Brand has a great premise with Matthew Waynee's idea, but they encumber light investment in the characters holding the short end of the stick. **** Unknown (11/1/06) Simon Brand ~ James Caviezel, Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnear, David Selby

In a remotely located, locked warehouse, somewhere on the low desert, perhaps in southern California or near there, several men gradually awaken, as if from a toxic slumber or coma, with nearly total amnesia for their identities and past events. It is obvious to all that they are imprisoned here. As they regain their wits (indicating that there is no permanent damage to their ability to form new memories), they find few if any clues to help them understand how they have gotten to this place and into this predicament, or how they are interconnected. One man is wounded, has lost blood, and is shackled by one wrist to a steel banister. These guys do not for a second trust each other: everyone is suspicious that other members of this little band are perpetrators of the predicament in which they collectively find themselves. Flashbacks slowly permit the viewer's construction of a context for comprehending the circumstances in which these men find themselves, but the brief glimpses we see of past events are not only ephemeral but often shadowy, and different images are seen by different characters, making the assemblage of a coherent picture nearly impossible for them, given the level of distrust among them, and, thus, a decided reticence to share information. Outsiders begin to call in on the telephone, but these contacts raise more questions than they answer. What's going on here? Who are the good guys, and the bad? And over what issues are they in conflict?. This compelling whodunwhat drama dishes out bracingly realistic imagery and conjures circumstances that are plain scary. This is Sartre's "No Exit" redux, but with several more players, not to mention more menace. I can't say any more about the plot without being a spoilsport. If you like suspense and paranoia-wracked proceedings (if, for example, you liked Darren Aronofsky's film "Pi," Soderbergh's "Kafka," the Nolan Brothers' "Memento," or Christian Bale's cadaveresque presence in "The Machinist"), you'll definitely enjoy this unsettling movie. The fine cast includes James Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano, Barry Pepper, Jeremy Sisto and Peter Stormare. This is a successful directorial debut for Simon Brand. My grades: 7.5/10, B+ (Seen on 11/21/06).

Okay, there is some 'action' scenes that make it good for a 2-hour getaway. But c'mon! It's laughable beyond the action when one considers for a moment what it's trying to make us accept or believe. Such as: --Forgetting the 'brief case' with all the pass ports, information is unfathomable. -- He rushes back to the airport to get it without so much as a hint to the 'wife' that he's doing so. -- What does 'oz' mean everywhere? Another blogger already noticed that. -- Why did the 'wife' go into the suite to onhook the bomb because her face still would've been recorded when they were there 3 months prior anyway! -- And why didn't she break the wall out further to get to the bomb deactivate system, rather than reaching down blindly down through the wall and blowing herself up anyway? -- Why did the hardened, East German spy readily eat cyanide just because that old rogue showed up at his apartment? Why'd he give in so soon, when he could've killed him as a trespasser or robber? -- Why was it that the only two people catching a train was Liam and the other hit dude? -- Save your money and go see instead: Barney's Version.

As others have pointed out, this film is wholly forgettable. The script was tripped over by actors who deserve better. And the plot went down like a case of selective memory loss. The premise was good but the execution was messy. "Who am I? Who are you?" After a while I was asking myself the same question, along with some others, "What am I watching this for? Where is this going" Truth be told, a fine ensemble cast (Barry Pepper certainly deserves better) couldn't help the flawed script and the screwy nonsense of a story. Still, they made the effort, which was the only thing that made the film palatable. Unfortunately for all concerned, they couldn't figure out how to leave the building. Half way through, I was looking for door too.

A man wakes up in an abandoned warehouse. Groggily getting to his feet, he sees several other men, some laying prone, one hanging from handcuffs, one tied to a chair. The man has no recollection of who he is, how he got there, who the other men are, nothing. No recollection other than that he just woke up. Unknown is a solid, twisty caper/thriller, about a kidnapping that somehow goes wrong; we pick up the action the same time that our protagonist (or is he?) does, so we have to piece things together with him. And, as it turns out, with the others in the warehouse, each of whom has suffered short-term memory loss. Who is "good," who is "bad," and where the heck are they? The man can't get out of the warehouse (there are bars on the windows, and the only door to the outside is electronically controlled), and they have limited means with which to defend themselves. But what if some of them are the ones against whom they should be defending? What then? One thing I liked about this movie, above all else, really, was that whatever did happen, it was neither blindly predictable nor completely implausible. No one trusts anyone, really, but no one completely mistrusts others, either. Helping matters is the wonderful, flawless cast, including Jim Caviezel (as the initial waker-upper), Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnear, Joe Pantoliano, Jeremy Sisto, Chris Mulkey, and Peter Stormare. Everyone is dead on; there are no hams this time around. Everything just plain feels right, and what's more, not one character is Good or Bad. Sure, you wake up with Jim Caviezel, and you get the idea he's Good, but he doesn't always act Good. If that makes sense. See, at no point did I feel I comfortably knew what the hey hey was going on. There were feints and double crosses, but not so haphazardly that they lose meaning. We've all seen movies like that, movies that are completely wrapped up in being clever and self-important, so they managed to write themselves into a corner and therefore make no freaking sense. Unknown makes sense all along but still surprises, and that's saying something. A lot better than you might imagine it being, based on its title.

In fact, parts of it I liked a lot. It had some interesting twists. But it just left me with a been there, seen that feeling after all of the SAW movies. Granted the ending was different from a typical Saw, but let's face it...a group of guys, unknown to each other (or so they believe) tossed together in an abandoned chemical factory.... But then it loses something. There's no intensity, there's poor group dynamic, there's no sense of urgency. Some nice twists at the end, and definitely worth a watch if there's nothing else on your plate, but it just left me empty...it passed the time, but it didn't satisfy.

UNKNOWN (2006) **1/2 James Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Bridget Moynahan, Joe Pantoliano, Barry Pepper, Jeremy Sisto, Peter Stormare. Mark Boone Junior. (Dir: Simon Brand) Low-rent pulp fiction: "The Usual Suspects" meets "Reservoir Dogs" Five men find themselves slowly awakening from a chemical leak and discover they are more or less imprisoned in a grimy warehouse in the middle of nowhere with little recollection of how they got there, and more importantly who they are. So begins the somewhat clever yet overtly familiar slice of low-rent pulp fiction from novice screenwriter Matthew Waynee and director Brand. Among the quintet of disgruntled alpha males are Caviezel whose character seems the most central and his jigsaw memory slowly puts into place if he is a victim or a criminal; Kinnear is a snarky no-nonsense type with a quick temper; Pantoliano showcases his usual brand of loud-mouth knuckleheadedness; Pepper is the more calculating type wavering on the fence to whose allegiance he should stick with to remain alive; Sisto is a bloodied mess handcuffed and the more-or-less distaff, scruffy version of Tim Roth's "Mr. Orange" in "Reservoir Dogs" (which the film emulates with echoes of "The Usual Suspects" and for its nasty set piece, "Saw"). What the five do know is that they have only a few hours to determine who is who and what happened before the main thug (veteran bad dude Stormare as the brains of the outfit for the kidnapping of two businessmen in a ransom scheme) arrives to finish the job. For the most part the twisty-turny plotting and acerbic dialogue crackle like a teetering FM station trying to get a solid connection with occasional breaks of clarity and the direction is tight enough in its claustrophobic storytelling with MTV-style flashback editing and camera-work by Luis Carballar & Paul Trejo and Steve Yedlin, respectively. By the film's knotty series of endings is a tad clunky and some of the acting to that point is uneven (well some of the actors don't get enough screen time – to wit Sisto's bleeding stuck pig character) but for those who like the noir with a nice twinge of flavor by all means check it out. The others can relax if they've seen any similar genres in the last decade.

Five men wake-up in a chemical warehouse without memories. One man is handcuffed and bleeding with a shot on the chest; the other one is tied-up to a chair; the other one has the nose broken; and the other two are lying on the floor. They unravel that two of them have been kidnapped and the other three are bad guys, bur who is who? Meanwhile, the police force try to track the criminals that will catch the ransom and find where their hideout is. "Unknown" is a surprisingly good thriller, with a dramatic and suspenseful story that uses elements of "Cube", "Memento", film-noir genre and many other movies ("Saw", "Reservoir Dogs" among others). The explanation for the lack of memory of the men is very reasonable, the acting is excellent and the final twist is totally unexpected. The character played by Jim Caviezel is very interesting and complex. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Os Desconhecidos" ("The Unknown")

Jim Caviezel and Joe Pantoliano had awesome performances and I give it all two thumbs way way up.This was an all star action thriller Like Jim Caviezel From Passion Of The Christ,Greg Kinnear from Stuck On you,Jeremy Sisto from Population 436,Bridget Moynahan from I Robot, and Barry Pepper from Battle Field Earth. The movie is like saw but they are in different situations and are not forced in to suicide.Everone did a good for a first time directer. Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious I watched the movie on Comcast on demand with IFC In Theaters Because this movie isn't playing where i live.