(CNN) -- Not everyone seems happy about Liam Neeson's transformation from respected Academy Award-nominated thespian to grizzly, gray-haired action star. But few actors command the screen so naturally.
He has towering physical presence, but also the sorrowful, stoic face of an older generation of tough guys. There's something of Humphrey Bogart about him.
In "Unknown," an enjoyably daft thriller dabbling in the Rumfeldian paradox of certain uncertainties, the movie makers cannily exploit the psychological fault lines in Neeson's star persona: Is he the implacable voice of moral authority, like Oskar Schindler, or the hair-trigger man of action from "Taken?"
Dr. Martin Harris tries to check into his Berlin hotel four days after his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) does, without any ID and with a bandage on his forehead -- evidence of the accident that derailed his plans.
But Elizabeth doesn't recognize him, and her husband, Dr. Harris (Aidan Quinn) is right there on her arm. In this day and age, it shouldn't be so hard to establish identity, surely? As fate would have it, Harris emerges from his coma on Thanksgiving, when the U.S. embassy is closed. And too bad for Liam's Martin Harris, it's Aidan's face that pops on an internet search.
So it's back to the hospital for Neeson, and time for reflection: "Do you know what it feels like to become insane?" he asks his doctor. "It's a war between being told who you are and knowing who you are. Who do you think wins?"
Amnesia is the thriller writer's favorite brain disorder -- so much more dramatic than, say, narcolepsy. It immediately puts the protagonist at odds with the world and opens up the mental trap door of paranoia.
Will the real Martin Harris please stand up?
Moviegoers will feel inclined to take Neeson at his word because we've seen him arrive in Berlin with Elizabeth, and because we're repeatedly given his point of view -- even retreating into his skull as his eyelids struggle to remain open after the accident.
But are the filmmakers playing games with us? Why would a wife renounce her husband like that -- and how could she find a replacement so quickly? We don't know what to think or who to believe.
Director Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan") and screenwriters Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cornwell (John Le Carré's son) keep us off balance, even as we're bombarded with echoes from countless movies: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Inception" and -- especially when Neeson finds an attractive, streetwise ally in the form of Diane Kruger's moonlighting Bosnian taxi driver -- Roman Polanski's Paris noir "Frantic."
Unlike Bourne, though, there's not a shakicam in sight. Collet-Serra's direction is a clinical exercise in classic suspense tropes. There's even a race to defuse a bomb as it ticks down to zero.
Never touristic -- save for the flying beer keg that smashes into a windscreen during the obligatory car chase -- the movie makes good use of a Berlin still divided in prosperity and prospects and uncovers a treasure trove of first-rate local actors.
They include Eva Lobau (from "Requiem") as a friendly nurse, Sebastian Koch ("The Lives of Others"), and the great Bruno Ganz ("Wings of Desire"; "Downfall"), who makes an indelible impression in three short scenes as a downbeat private investigator who gets ahead of the game. A late appearance by Frank Langella keeps the acting a notch or three above the level of the action.
"Unknown" is an entertaining variation on a familiar theme, even if we can't entirely ignore the story's resemblance to a particularly ripe slice of Swiss cheese.
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