Unknown, starring Liam Neeson and Frank Langella

Be honest. The first time you saw a clip featuring Liam Neeson in his new flick, Unknown, you thought of Taken. Tell the truth!  There's a very specific reason for that. The makers of this film wanted you to think it was just like Taken, and there are moments when the script desperately tries to be. Neeson is certainly able and willing. He's been basking in the glow of post-middle aged action hero status ever since, but he's tripped up by an extremely recognizable story. So the only thing that truly remains "unknown" is the answer to this question: Does Unknown strive to be Taken lite, or is it aiming for something more cerebral?
Neeson is Martin Harris, a renowned scientist in Berlin for one of those exciting botany conferences or something. He brings his beautiful, leggy wife Elizabeth(a really quite awful January Jones) along for the trip. Checking into their swank hotel, he realizes that an all-important briefcase is missing. So what does he do? Rather than say "Hey honey I gotta go find my luggage", he jumps into the nearest taxi and speeds off to look for it without saying a word. Sound plausible to you? Who is this guy? Reed Richards? Nobody's that neglectful of their wife. Before he can return, the taxi is involved in an improbable accident. The taxi driver(Diane Kruger) rescues him from a watery grave, but Martin is in a coma for days.
When he awakes, Martin discovers that his world has gone all cattywompus. He shows up at the hotel and barges into a party, only to discover that his wife suddenly doesn't recognize him. Not only that, she seems a little scared of him. What's worse, she's replaced him with a guy who claims to be Martin Harris(a snotty Aidan Quinn). He's got all the proof in the world to back him up, too. What in the hey is going on? Crazed psycho isn't a good look for anybody, so Martin busts security and tries to get some answers.

The central question in the beginning is an intriguing one: Is Martin Harris crazy or is some sort of conspiracy afoot? Unfortunately the question is answered fairly quickly as he's pursued by a pack of thugs and a genial, well-spoken assassin(Frank Langella).  Martin finds help by going back to his sexy cabbie, who turns out to be an immigrant trying to keep a low profile. There's also a chatty former member of the German secret police(Bruno Ganz) tackling the case.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, who last helmed the underrated horror, Orphan, Unknown lacks any identity to call it's own. Cribbing action elements from Taken, while trying to maintain the mystery and central enigmatic figure of The Bourne series, Unknown does a poor job of emulating both. The few opportunities Neeson has to kick butt are unimpressive. They feel like afterthoughts, thrown in because somebody correctly noticed the glacial pace. Not every scene needs to be a car chase, but there is a lot of repetition of the same steps. I do like the way Martin and we as the audience are kept out of the informational loop, so it gives the impression we're discovering clues right along with him. There's a smarter movie here than we're provided, if only the filmmakers had the confidence to stick to it.