No Surrender Cinema: Unknown (2006)

“Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions!”-“Rowdy” Roddy Piper

That famous quote was uttered over three decades ago, but it was the first thing that came to mind after I viewed Unknown for this month’s No Surrender Cinema. Although I own this 2006 thriller on DVD, it has been a while since I’ve gone back to it, but thanks to the power of the almighty Tubi app, it allowed me to take another look at a mystery that I remember fondly and let you all know if it still holds up!

This Unknown should not be confused with the Liam Neeson thriller that was released five years after it, but it does boast quite the ensemble cast. who we’ll meet soon enough. But first, shouldn’t someone answer the phone?

I guess it’s hard to decide who’s going to answer the phone when you don’t even know who you are in the first place. That’s the problem facing Jean Jacket (Jim Caviezel, one of five stars who are credited based on a character description) when he awakens in an abandoned warehouse out in the middle of nowhere. Ol’ JJ needs a moment to collect his bearings, and is shocked to see that he’s not alone. Several other men in various stages of distress are also inside the warehouse, but Jean Jacket has no idea who they are, who he is, or how any of them got there. When he finally picks up the phone, the voice on the other end talks to JJ as if he’s a part of a plot that’s been put into motion. Jean Jacket gives him some generic answers to his questions just to get him off the phone, but one would think that another batch of bad news isn’t too far away.

Once he’s off the phone, the other four men start to come to. There’s the Bound Man (Joe Pantoliano), who is tied to an office chair and just begging to be set free. Rancher Shirt (Barry Pepper) doesn’t think they should do that just yet, because surely he’s tied up for a reason, right? Handcuffed Man (Jeremy Sisto) looks to have gotten the worst of whatever went down, because he’s handcuffed and hanging from a second level railing and bleeding out from a bullet wound. Last but not least is Broken Nose (Greg Kinnear), who springs to life and starts lashing out like a feral cat, unwilling to take anything at face value. He immediately accuses Jean Jacket of being the one behind whatever it is that got them there, but since no one is in any condition to corroborate his story, they blow him off as being a smug asshole.

Across town, we find out that someone named William Coles, Jr. has been kidnapped, and the ransom is about to be paid by his wife. Unfortunately for her, the crooks are one step ahead and use a disabled janitor as a decoy so that they can make off with the dough. Now the cops have to start back at square one and try to figure out who took Coles and track them down before any harm comes to him.

Back at the warehouse, the members of Amnesiacs Anonymous are trying to recall something, anything that will help them sort things out. Jean Jacket, Broken Nose, and Rancher Shirt come across the body of a security guard and a recent newspaper that mentions the kidnapping of corporate executive Coles and his financial advisor Richard McCain. The group deduces that two of them are Coles and McCain, which means the other three must be kidnappers. Because Handcuffed Man blew up Jean Jacket’s spot and mentioned how the phone rang earlier while everyone was in a fog, JJ seems to be the most obvious suspect. Why did the voice on the other end continue to talk to him? Did he even know who he was talking to? Jean Jacket disregards all of the accusations and says that it doesn’t matter who anyone is anymore, because they’re all sitting ducks in this condition. From this point on he suggests that everyone just shut up and start working together so they can all get out alive.

JJ, Rancher, and Broken Nose form a tense alliance, while Handcuffed Man tries to help Bound Man get his hands on a gun that slid under a nearby shelf. Bound Man is caught in the act, and the group is interrupted by another phone call, where again JJ is spoken to as if he’s an accomplice. The group now has until sundown to fight their way out out this place, but with bars on the windows, locks on the doors, and no outgoing phone calls, it’s going to be a lot harder than they thought. The already fragile bond between captives starts falling apart almost immediately when Broken Nose starts having fleeting thoughts that convince him that he’s McCain, Rancher Shirt is Coles, and Jean Jacket is the kidnapper. The two of them jump JJ, but Jean Jacket fights back and refuses to believe that he’s a criminal. Rancher/Coles’ advice? “Then stop acting like one.”.

Since Unknown has a finite runtime, the five captives each have memories trickling back into their brain. Though the math adds up to at least a couple of them being lowlifes, they press on and agree to stick together. When Handcuffed Man dies (and reveals that he and Jean Jacket were childhood chums) and Bound Man makes a drastic decision, all of the pieces start falling into place. Because of who he is…or at least because of who the mastermind (Peter Stormare) thinks he is, Jean Jacket is able to use this to keep his allies safe. The gang leader is not happy that the initial plan has gone to shit, but since he has the money the only thing left is to get rid of the remaining witnesses. Will the remaining four make it out alive? Not all of them. Do we find out who everyone is, and what their motivations were? Yes, more than once. Because here in the final act is where Unknown excels; the film starts to tie up all the loose ends while it extends the length of the rope. Even when something obvious is staring you in the face, flashbacks show something entirely different. Remember what Roddy Piper said about changing the questions? He would have gone wild for the final 15 minutes of Unknown. The path from point A to point B is not a straight line, and that windy road in between is what keeps the tension level high during the climax and closing scene of the film.

Unknown was a blind buy for me back in 2006, and I remember watching it with my then-girlfriend and getting sucked into the story and the atmosphere. The core story of the five men trapped with no memory of who they are, refusing to believe that they’re responsible for anything heinous was a good enough hook to get me to watch. The side story of the cops tracking down the kidnappers was more like filler in between warehouse scenes, and I may have liked it more if one of the five men was the true mastermind rather than a hired hand. Although that could have given the whole scenario a little more depth and suspense, I’m not mad at anything that Unknown did. I enjoyed it 15 years ago, and I enjoyed it again this week when I noticed it in my Tubi recommendations. 

I’ll take this time to channel Alanis Morrisette and mention how ironic is it that given its subject matter, Unknown is one of the most memorable thrillers I’ve seen. I personally find it better than the more well known movie that shares it’s name (and does a slight variation on the amnesia premise). The performances of the major players were top notch, and the dingy locked down warehouse added a sense of claustrophobia to the psychological suffering each character was going through. Caviezel was the standout because he acted as the conscience of the group even though there was a good chance he was the worst one of them all, and he was able to shift into different moods without it seeming too over the top. He was subdued, he was stern, and at one pivotal point he was just as surprised as we were watching it play out. He was the easy choice for Unknown‘s MVP.

For a twisted thriller starring plenty of people you’ve seen before, fire up the Tubi app and take some time to enjoy Unknown while it’s available. As of this writing it’s also streaming on Amazon Prime as well, and my fellow physical media fans out there can still acquire a copy on DVD with minimal effort. If you’re looking for a film to suggest to your friends and get them talking, make it a point to put this film on ASAP. Don’t do it while you’re cooking dinner or checking your Facebook notifications either; kick back, tune out the background noise, and see why Unknown should be more familiar to movie fans.