听 User Rating 
Contains moderate, implied threat
After waking up in a remote warehouse, battered and bloody, five men struggle to remember how they got there in Unknown. Initially it's a case of 'don't know, don't care', thankfully first-time director Simon Brand soon picks up the pace with a twisty, high-tension script by Matthew Waynee (also making his feature debut). In the end, it's a little too clever to be credible but the combined talents of Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear and Barry Pepper keep this thriller pulsing.
A broken canister of chlorobenzylide sparks this collective bout of amnesia, which means that nobody knows the bad guys from the good guys. Each man is looking over his shoulder except for Jeremy Sisto who's too busy dying of a gunshot wound to his. Joe Pantoliano does his usual whiny wiseguy bit, tied to a chair while the others try to find a way out of the building. Their time is running out though as Peter Stomare's snakeskin-booted baddie is coming 'to collect'.
"INDULGENT PLOT TWISTS"
As the gas begins to wear off, the aimless running around with glazed expressions abates and the stakes get higher. Fragments of memory prompt unnerving questions for Caviezel, pulling us closer into the otherwise frenetic action; He wonders whether he's the man behind the bloodshed and if wiping the memory slate clean gives him a chance at a fresh start? Kinnear and Pepper lend great support, each in his own slightly hysterical way challenging Caviezel's disjointed perceptions. Unfortunately the flashbacks become a liability in the final stages when an indulgence of plot twists overtakes the characters. The film isn't fully satisfying because of that, but it's still a mind-bending trip worth taking.
Unknown is released in UK cinemas on Friday 13th April 2007.
