“A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him,” (IMDb.com). Sounds awesome, right?! Wrong. Epic trailers, A-list actors and a great premise should have made this a must-see film, but something went terribly wrong.

Liam Neeson is an amazing actor known for playing stoic roles where his actions are so extraordinary that his quiet personality is a nice contrast. However, in “Unknown” his character’s personality, the bland German scenery and the lack of a quality story made every minute painfully boring.

Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) has a beautiful wife and a seemingly successful life as a botanist, but it is all stolen from him after a terrible accident. All of this happens in the first three minutes of the movie, and it will be the only excitement until the last three minutes of the movie.

Every scene is one dull thing after another. Even the small romantic spark that crops up is nothing more than an orange-ish, dead ember.

Since Dr. Harris spends the whole movie being “unknown,” every character we meet along the way brushes him off or takes no notice. Even his wife (January Jones) seems indifferent in general. It feels like he spends an hour and a half aimlessly walking around Germany.

At some point, things pick up a little, but it is like throwing a lit match into a toilet bowl. Every car chase, act of violence or would-be suspenseful moment fails. Somehow, this movie managed to make two car chases boring.

The movie has an interesting climax towards the end, but the ending, like much of the movie, is unsatisfying.

This movie is not worth watching–not even renting or getting from Netflix. There is no moral to this story, no redeeming qualities, no awesome special effects, and the soundtrack is slow and methodical. Even though it was based in Germany, there is little culture to be gleaned.