Unknown - Blu-ray Review

4.3 Stars (out of 5)

Synopsis

Liam Neeson stars in this taut thriller as a man who regains consciousness after an auto accident only to discover that another man is impersonating him, and that no one -- not even his wife (January Jones) -- recognizes his identity as the real Dr. Martin Harris. Finding himself with an unexpected ally (Diane Kruger), Harris struggles to solve the mystery and hang onto his own wits, while also being stalked by anonymous killers. (Buy Now $22.99)

Starring:

Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Frank Langella, Sebastian Koch, Olivier Schneider, Stipe Erceg

Director:

Jaume Collet-Serra

Blu-ray Release Date:

June 21, 2011

Subtitles:

English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:
Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.8 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

• Subwoofer – 4.5 Stars
• Dialog – 5.0 Stars
• Surround Effects – 4.5 Stars
• Dynamic Range – 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

Unknown’s audio performance is immersive, dynamic, and does a great job of drawing you into the film. At first the audio performance seams a little subdued, but when the action hits, the speakers come alive. Loud car crashes, sirens, and sharp sounds of broken glass display the impressive range in this DTS-HD Master mix. Heavy bass vertebrates during explosions and brings heft to cars as they speed by. Every word is heard clearly and is never muffled by the awesome sounds of action that take place on the screen.

Video  4.9 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

• Color Accuracy  - 5.0 Stars
• Shadow detail - 5.0 Stars
• Clarity - 5.0 Stars
• Skin tones - 4.5 Stars
• Compression - 5.0 Stars

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Video resolution: 1080p, Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1.

I truly enjoyed the pristine video performance of Unknown. The clarity is so sharp not only were Liam Neeson’s wrinkles visible, small wrinkles on the young face of January Jones were clearly seen. Clothing textures and patterns popped with fine detail. Colors and tints change every so often based on the lighting of the environment, but always remain to be realistic and colorful. Dark scenes showed true blacks without losing any details in the shadows. Overall this Warner Brother's presentation is top notch material, and can be considered demo material to show of your home theater to friends.

Dark scenes are great

Bonus Features 2.0 Stars (out of 5)

• Liam Neeson: Known Action Hero (HD, 5 minutes)
• Unknown: What is Known? (HD, 4 minutes)

Movie - 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

Review

Unknown tries to be an original intriguing mystery action film with several plot twists, but inevitably twists itself into a mess. The first half of the movie, I spent most of my time wondering what’s really happening. Is he dead? Has he been replaced? Is he just crazy? Buy they time they told me what is really going on I almost didn't care anymore. Don't get me wrong, this movie is fun to watch. There are some great fight scenes, an awesome car chase, and has magnificent audio and video to boot. However the plot left me feeling empty, and resulted in me not believing the story and never getting invested into the characters. The story painted itself in a corner; the characters were supposed to be cold and confused, just to make the "twist" work properly. This made the movie seem jerky, and caused the emotional tone to drastically change from one moment to the next. Unknown is  a strange movie, I kind of liked it, but with the unemotional plot and uneven tone what I really feel about the movie is still ... Unknown.