"Unknown" is the type of film that looks brilliant before, during and even shortly after watching it. The names of the actors appearing during the opening credits are fantastic, the basic premise sounds awesome and instantly reminds you of a handful of other cinema classics, there's an almost constant high level of action & mystery and the director maintains a fast pacing and regularly provides new plot twists! This film actually contains all the aspects you hope to see on a big cinema screen, and it isn't until quite a while after finishing "Unknown" before its flaws and shortcomings come to the surface. It sounds rather strange, but by now – only a couple days after my viewing – I can't even remember that many things about "Unknown" that were really original and/or genuinely impressive. In spite of delivering constant thrills and mystery, the only thing I can think of now is how simplistic the story really is and how the script actually reverts to such easy excuses to explain the oddities. If you're planning on seeing "Unknown", I strongly advise to enjoy the wild ride while it lasts and immediately put your mind to other things when the film is over, because if you contemplate too much about what you saw, there's a large chance your opinion will change as well. The film already often gets compared to "Reservoir Dogs" and it's fairly easy to see why. Five rather sinister men are gathered in a secluded desert hangar and it's more than likely that they're all involved in some kind of criminal affair. Slight problem, though ... they suffer from mass-amnesia following an incident or violent struggle and none of them knows whether he is a good guy or a bad guy. One of them is tied down to a chair, one is handcuffed and slowly dying from a gunshot wound, one guy's nose is broken and the last remaining two men are desperately trying to figure out what connects them. As the day passes by, brief flashback and awkward phone calls reveal that the men are involved in a kidnapping and that they are waiting for other accomplices to return to the hangar. But, which of them are kidnappers and which of them are hostages? And, even more importantly, what caused their temporary loss of memory? The amnesia-aspect of the plot is intriguing at first, but it becomes less plausible and definitely sillier as the film evolves. It's a little too hard to believe that the characters don't remember anything about their unusual situation and when the cause of the amnesia is finally revealed, it only comes across as a mildly acceptable excuse. Thanks to the minimum amount of filming locations, "Unknown" does feature quite a bit of suspense and an occasionally claustrophobic atmosphere. The screenplay suffers from the 'one twist too many' syndrome at the end, like so many wannabe intellectual psychological thrillers nowadays, but the writing skills of newcomer Matthew Waynee are definitely promising and hopeful for the future of the genre. The multi-talented cast provides this film with a bigger status than it actually deserves, but they all play their roles with great devotion. Jeremy Sisto's role ("Six Feet Under", "May", Wrong Turn") is sadly the smallest and it hurts to realize he'll probably always remain underrated. Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper and Jim Caviezel are good in their rather unconventional roles, while Peter Stormare steals the show as the maniacal gangster.

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.

Five men wake up in a rundown isolated warehouse with no idea of who they are or why they are all locked up together in this remote place. The desperate guys try to figure out who's good and who's bad as they try remember their individual identities, attempt to escape from the warehouse, and stay alive through this puzzling ordeal. Director Simon Brand, working from a tricky and compelling script by Matthew Waynee, relates the gripping plot at a steady pace and does an expert job of building plenty of sweaty and nerve-rattling tension. The bang-up cast all give uniformly excellent performances: Jim Caviezel as the seemingly nice Jean Jacket, Greg Kinnear as the antsy Broken Nose, Barry Pepper as the sensible Rancher Shirt, Joe Pantoliano as the whiny bound man, Jeremy Sisto as the seriously wounded handcuffed dude, Bridget Moynahan as the nervous and concerned Eliza Coles (her husband is one of the fellows in the warehouse),Peter Stormare as vicious drug dealer Snakeskin Boots, and Mark Boone Junior as one of Snakeskin's flunkies. Steve Yedlin's shadowy, prowling cinematography, the dingy and claustrophobic setting, and Angelo Milli's shivery score all further enhance the considerable suspense. The complex narrative takes a lot of neat twists and turns while the conclusion is genuinely startling. But it's the clever writing and strong acting which keep this picture humming throughout. A solid and satisfying little sleeper.