VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Micransix Crappy film

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

morrison-dylan-fan Gathering up DVDs to trade in,I was surprised to discover that I had somehow picked up 2 DVDs of this interesting-sounding Neo- Noir!,which led to me deciding that it was time to uncover the unknown.The plot:Waking up in a locked abandoned warehouse,a man finds himself surrounded by 1 man tied up to a chair,another has been shot & handcuffed to a wall,whilst 2 others are lying on the floor badly beaten.As he tries to piece his memory back together,a phone begins to ring.Picking up the phone,the man is told by a stranger that he will arrive at the warehouse in a few hours time.Putting the phone down,the other 4 men start to wake up.With none of them having any memory of how they got here,they each decide to team up,so that they can break out of the warehouse.Whilst preparing their escape plan,some fragments of memory start to return.View on the film:Whilst the screenplay by Matthew Waynee is a bit too open on its rift of Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs,Waynee offers an excellent mix of tense psychological thrills and gritty Neo-Noir.For the first half of the title,Waynee makes each of the 5 guys Film Noir loners whose dark pasts they each secretly want to stay forgotten.Keeping the movie limited to a handful of characters,Waynee superbly shows the gang splitting themselves in groups,with the ones who were lying on the ground believing that they were the "good guys" whilst the 2 handcuffed/tied up were the up to no good "baddies"Gradually regaining their memories,Waynee hits each twist with a sharp precision,as each of the guys start to remember whose side they are really on.Despite filming the flashback fragments in a far too glossy manner,director Simon Brand & cinematographer Steve Yedlin give the movie an excellent burnt-out Film Noir atmosphere.Keeping any light/windows away from the warehouse,Brand and Yedlin grind dry grey,whites & blood reds into the film,which along with brilliantly showing the isolated location that the men are stuck in,also subtly displays the hazy,cloudy memories that all of the group are suffering from.Reuniting after working together on The Thin Red Line, Jim Caviezel and Barry Pepper each give great performances,with Pepper giving his stranger a nervous sense of loyalty to Caviezel,whilst Caviezel shows his character to be a Film Noir loner,who is desperate to get away from the past which is slowly coming back.Joining Caviezel & Pepper, Joe Pantoliano gives a traditionally great slime ball performance,whilst Greg Kinnear gives a wonderful edgy performance,which plants a seed of doubt into the group,as they start to uncover the unknown.

Ade Adepegba Hindsight is 20/20. I guess by now the filmmakers of 'Unknown' may appreciate that suspense is a far more powerful tool than mystery.Suspense - as defined by Hitchcock is when two guys are at a table having a chat unaware that there's a time bomb under the table that could explode at any moment.The viewer has privileged knowledge while the characters remain ignorant. The more the viewer is invested in the characters, the stronger the suspense. Hitchcock went as far as placing a child in the position of jeopardy but audiences hated him for it and the film suffered at the box office.For most of 'Unknown' we don't know which of the characters are the good guys or the bad guys. So, even though there is impending jeopardy because it's likely that the kidnap victims will be killed, we can't really root for anyone. The viewer is in the dark as much as the characters. The police sequences built around the money drop offer no clues.As the characters await the arrival of the main group of bad guys, they fight and form alliances but the viewer is unable to root or despair over the choices made.The most intense moment in the first hour of the movie happens when they try to get the attention of the kid holding the ball. It's a rare moment of real suspense.

suite92 Jean Jacket wakes up in a closed room where the one exit is locked by passcode. Other prisoners are present, and most seem worse for the wear. Jean Jacket pounds on the door and raises a holler or ten, but gets no attention. He takes a phone call, and takes notes, but seems not to know what it was about.Broken Nose, Bound Man, Handcuffed Man, and Rancher Shirt wake up soon there after, and the four of them try to figure out who they are and why they are together.Elsewhere, Eliza cooperates with law enforcement to get her husband back.Snakeskin Boots intercepts the hostage money and eludes the police; he calls the trapped men and tells them he will meet with them before sundown. Bound Man finds a gun, but Jean Jacket takes it away from him. They discover instructions about the toxic gas stored in canister around the rooms. It can cause temporary memory loss in small doses. Broken Nose begins to remember a bit later; he was one of the abductees. He talks to Rancher Shirt, the other abductee. Rancher Shirt tries to get the gun from Jean Jacket, but fails.Broken Nose frees Bound Man, and the anger rises and partial memories surface. Jean Jacket gives Handcuffed Man some water, but cannot get the handcuffs off.The last two kidnappers are coming with the money. Two cops are tailing them with mixed success. Erin is in despair about losing her husband. The men in the room with memory loss are cooperating to find a way out before the kidnappers come.How does this pan out? Be prepared for twists and turns as the memories surface.------Scores-------Cinematography: 8/10 No problems.Sound: 9/10 Well done.Acting: 7/10 Jim Caviezel, Bridget Moynihan, Peter Stormare, and Joe Pantoliano were excellent. On the other hand, Greg Kinnear was unconvincing as usual; with every line he speaks, I look for an indication that it's a joke or a bluff. I only believe his insincerity. Jeremy Sisto disappoints as always. Screenplay: 9/10 Kept me guessing to the end.

Agnelin Five men wake up at an abandoned warehouse, none of them remembering who he is, and all of them in a pretty dramatic situation: one is badly wounded and in cuffs, another is tied down to a chair, and they're all locked in. They soon learn that the "bad guys" are on their way there. Some of these five men are criminals and others are their victims, but they don't know who is who. However, they're all in danger, so they're going to have to cooperate in order to save their lives.That's "Unknown"'s attractive premise. It is not really original, as isn't anything about the movie, actually. However, I feel that something better could have been done out of it. There's nothing wrong with "Unknown", and in fact I enjoyed it quite a bit -but it's definitely a minor movie. I personally have no problem with movies that aren't going to stick in my memory after they end, and in fact, I often prefer movies that offer pure entertainment value over those that are trying to "make me think". However, if you fall into the latter category, you're probably going to be disappointed at this movie, because you've probably seen "Memento", "Reservoir dogs", "The usual suspects", "Saw", and others. The inspiration from all of those is in "Unknown" in some form or manner, and "Unknown" has nothing new or ground-breaking to offer.All in all, it is a very entertaining movie which probably falls short of its own potential. Enjoyable from beginning to end, though.