We got a real doozy from the folks out at Warner Brothers, who sent over a copy of Unknown for us to review. I was glad to get this one in as it came out around the same time as something else–just what I don’t remember–so I definitely wanted the opportunity to catch this one.

Unknown follows Dr. Martin Harris, played here by Liam Neeson, who’s been doing a surprisingly able job as an action hero pretty much since his Fallout 3 voice work.  Anyway, Doc Harris got in a car accident out in Berlin, but it’s having a surprising effect. Not on Harris so much as everyone around him…who for some reason seems to have no idea who he is. But worse, he’s now being trailed by assassins, which means he’s got to not only run for his life, but at the same time figure out just what exactly happened to him in that car accident, what caused it, and how he can get his life back from it.

This is a Dark Castle picture, interestingly enough, which has given me some horror flicks that I’m personally very fond of, stuff like Ghost Ship, Orphan, and the House on Haunted Hill remake. So it’s certainly a surprise to see them engaging in more of a suspense / thriller sort of concept. I certainly wondered how they would fare in executing what was, for them, a somewhat divergent course of movie action.

And indeed, in the early going, they do a nice job of building tension. Something is very clearly going on here and it’s a definite mystery. They keep showing things in bits and pieces, which clearly fits with the overall theme of poor Martin trying to piece together just what exactly is going on. We’re just as much in the dark as he is, and that’s disturbing, but also quite clever.

And by the end of it, we’re going to find out something impressively sinister about the whole thing, and of course I’m not going to spoiler it for you. But believe me, it’s going to be quite worth the watching. A surprise it may well have been, but a welcome surprise, make no mistake about that.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives this welcome surprise a full ten out of ten for putting up an incredible show, and for showing that there’s more to Dark Castle than just horror flicks. I’m really rather impressed with this, and seeing Liam Neeson’s career noticeably expand is a welcome sight.