Unknown 2006

Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: There's a good little thriller lurking somewhere in the depths of "Unknown," but it never quite rises to the surface. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: While Brand manages a couple of effectively brutal bits of violence, Matthew Waynee's gassy screenplay is all premise and no propulsion. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: Unknown is far from unwatchable, just undistinguished. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The performances are uniformly excellent, and Brand relies on his music video training to provide some tantalizing flashback clues. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: Unknown comes across more like an amateur stage play, mechanically working through the obligatory three acts toward the obligatory twist ending. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: You wish some of the plot holes had been spackled better. Read more

Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times: The movie's disinterest in character might be forgivable were its plot not riddled with holes. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: It's a good gimmick, but still a gimmick, and we're left with more confusion than tension. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly: You can't fault the cast on this one, but you can fault the way the big-name actors have been distributed. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: It's not nearly as risky or as inspired as the movies it borrows from. But it keeps its audience's collective head in the game, thanks in large part to an impressive cast enacting the sometimes ludicrous proceedings with conviction. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: It all comes together at the end, logically and with a twist. But it's not a game that allows the audience to play along. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Once the paranoid surrealism of the opening scenes begins to fade, so does the film's inherent interest level. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Unknown is far from a perfect movie, but it's more amusing than many better-made ones. Read more

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times: Gritty, gimmicky. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Ronnie Scheib, Variety: Tyro video helmer Simon Brand doesn't give his actors sufficient breathing room, ruthlessly chopping their scenes into monotonous hash. Read more

Jean Oppenheimer, Village Voice: The pacing is slightly off, with the action switching between the imprisoned men and the police who are trying to find them, and what should be a mounting sense of urgency inside the warehouse (think Reservoir Dogs) falters and goes slack. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: A nifty little psychological crime thriller that suggests a Treasure of the Sierra Madre for the postindustrial age. Read more