Unknown DVD

Irish actor Liam Neeson tends to very good in the kind of older actionman roles that used to go to Harrison Ford and he puts in another sound tough guy performance in this mystery-thriller set in Berlin.

It's a little like Roman Polanski's Frantic in which the wife of the hero (that man again Harrison Ford) disappeared in Paris but this time it's the hero's own identity that disappears.

Neeson plays a respected biologist Dr Martin Harris who arrives by plane with his beautiful wife (the ice cold January Jones) in the wintery German capital to attend an important conference being attended by a mega-rich Arab prince benefactor. His wife enters their swanky hotel but the good doctor realises he's left his briefcase at the airport and hails a cab.

On the way the taxi is involved in an accident, crashes off a bridge into the river, where the doctor gets a bump on his head and is only saved by the quick-thinking of the young female driver.

He wakes up in hospital, perplexed that his wife is not at his side and signs himself out to return to the hotel. Here, in some very Hitchcock-like scenes, he meets his wife who completely blanks him and then introduces him to her husband, Dr Martin Harris.

Our hero fears he is going crazy and goes back to hospital but when the attempts on his life start, he realises that something very bad and very strange is happening.

He tracks down the taxi driver, a Bosnian illegal immigrant (Diane Kruger in excellent form) and she is persuaded to throw her lot in with the desperate doctor when a pair or determined hitmen target them and anyone unfortunate enough to get in the way, though the doc shows some savvy survival skills. With the help of an elderly former East German spy turned private eye (veteran German actor Bruno Ganz), they try to figure out the deadly mystery.

Unknown is no classic but it is a good thriller that will keep you guessing right up to the big twist and explosive finale.