History Film / Unknown2011

-->-- '''[[Creator/LiamNeeson Dr. Martin Harris]]'''

Neeson plays botanist Dr Martin Harris, who brings his wife along to attend a biotechnology conference in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}. However, he [[DeadlyRoadTrip gets into a car accident]] while riding the taxi back to the airport to pick up luggage he left behind. When he awakes in hospital, he leaves to find his wife. However, Liz denies knowing who Martin is... and another man is wearing Martin's name tag and claiming to be him is standing right next to her - and she acknowledges "Martin B" as the real deal. In a foreign land for the first time, pursued by mysterious terrorists and with nobody to trust, Harris must get all the help he can find, including from Gina (Creator/DianeKruger) the driver of the cab that plunged into the river and Jürgen (Creator/BrunoGanz), a former Stasi agent-turned private investigator.

* FinalExchange: The main protagonist recovers from an explosion in preparation for one last fight against his EvilDoppelganger. Said doppelganger mocks him saying, "You really forgotten everything, have you?" The response? [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "I didn't forget everything. I remember how to kill you, that's all!"]]

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: [[spoiler:"I didn't forget everything! I remember how to kill you, that's all!"]]

* FinalExchange: The main protagonist recovers from an explosion in preparation for one last fight against his EvilDoppelganger. Said doppelganger mocks him saying, "You really forgotten everything, have you?" The response? [[PreAssKickingOneLiner "I didn't forget everything. I know how to kill you, asshole!"]]

* PreAsskickingOneLiner: [[spoiler:"I didn't forget everything! I remember how to kill you, asshole!"]]

* ForWantOfANail: Had one of Martin's handbags not been misplaced, he wouldn't need to take a cab back to the airport. And if a strap keeping a refrigerator in a moving truck didn't rip, it wouldn't result in the car crash that ultimately kicks the whole amnesia plot.

* SignificantSketchbook: Gina has one.

* SmokescreenCrime: Prince Shada's idealistic views have earned him multiple attempts on his life and it appears that Section 15 has been hired by his enemies to kill him. [[spoiler:It is ultimately revealed that the villains' true target is Shada's friend Professor Bressler, who has as developed a genetically modified breed of corn capable of surviving harsh climates, an invention which could prove problematic for certain businesses. The villains' plan is to kill both Shada and Bressler with a bomb, making it look like Shada was killed by enemies from his country and Bressler was collateral damage.]]

** It’s possible that it’s just their standard practice for all missions to have a “substitute” on hand in case an accident occurs, much the way actors have understudies.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: An assassin tries to inject something in Gina... and she ends up doing it on him instead as he attacks Martin.

* InsistentTerminology: The fact that Harris would always add "doctor" before his name made him seem really insecure. Might be FridgeBrilliance [[spoiler: in light of TheReveal, since Neeson's character learned everything about his persona through pure memorization, and for the reasons explained in the ArtisticLicenseHistory entry, that may have made him more comfortable repeating the phrase the way he absorbed it.]]
** Played straight to the extent that a blow to the head affects memory and [[spoiler: another one restores it in somewhat contrived fashion.]]

* MurderInc: [[spoiler:Section 15, Martin's employer, is one of these and will kill just about anyone for the right price.]]
** [[spoiler: They also don't have any compunctions about killing innocents, as they murder anyone who's merely seen them, and they're willing to blow up an entire party full of people just to kill one man and to cast suspicion off their real target.]]

** Arguably averted. The villains want to make Martin seem crazy in the eyes of the police, and so (as Cole says in the carpark before trying to make Martin overdose) want his death to look accidental. There's always the risk if they just shoot him that the police may become suspicious as to why Martin was murdered shortly after telling such an incredible and unlikely story, and investigate further.

* AdultFear: After [[spoiler: the Adlon Hotel begins evacuating due to a terrorist threat,]] one of Prof. Bressler's daughters wanders off away from her father and he can't catch up to her. She's eventually found by [[spoiler: "Martin B" which isn't much better because he's one of the people trying to kill him, and would have done it in front of his children.]]
** Not to mention [[spoiler: a bomb goes off not long after, in the very room where he and his children were attending a party.]]

The film not only has a TwistEnding, it has twist beginnings, twist middles and twist three-quarters - hence the large amount of marked spoilers below.

* KarmaHoudini: Martin exposes himself to be responsible for planting the bomb 3 months earlier but walks away scot-free.

* KickTheDog: The first kill that we see onscreen is performed by the assassin when he goes to the hospital. [[spoiler: of the nurse who had earlier given Martin the number of Jürgen, saying that he could help him]].