Strangers wake up in an abandoned warehouse. They don’t know who they are. They don’t know how they got there. They don’t know how long they’ve been there. Judging from the conditions they wake up to (one’s tied to a chair, one has a broken nose, one is dangling handcuffed from elevated rafting and the other two remain relatively unharmed) and a newspaper story revealing details about a kidnapping (curiously with no photographs of the missing) they determine that some of them must be among those kidnapped, and others must be the kidnappers. But who is who? Who are the kidnappers and who are the kidnapped?

This is the basis of Unknown, a film that received a very limited theatrical release before being unceremoniously dumped on to DVD with no fanfare whatsoever. You might not be surprised at this treatment of a film whose plot, while intriguing (if unbelievable), is basically a collection of this-and-that from films like Saw, Cube, The Usual Suspects, Memento, Reservoir Dogs and other similar films. I was surprised though that this one went ignored, particularly with the cast line-up.

Jim “Don’t call me Jesus!” Caviezel, Greg “getting nominated is good enough” Kinnear, Joe “I thought we were filming Memento 2” Pantoliano and Jeremy “I played Jesus too!” Sisto are all pretty damn good in this flick. Of course, there is a lot of strain taken off of the actors since the strong ensemble cast helps even out the screen time, but they all do a fine job with what they have, which isn’t a lot. Jeremy Sisto doesn’t have much to do or say as the man handcuffed to the rafter. Caviezel, being the first of the five to wake up, has much more depth to his character. He seems to be the only rational one of the group as well, legitimately not knowing if he’s a good guy or a bad guy.

The philosophical argument, which all amnesia films seem to have, is when you know longer remember who you were, how do you determine how to react in the future. Caviezel’s character believes himself to be one of the kidnappers, but can’t really bring himself to do anyone harm, even though he has the best chance of getting out of the situation. This was handled really well here, and you can see just how memories shape who we are in every character as they randomly flash back (so cliché, but I can’t imagine how it could be done differently) and at the very end, when Caviezel remembers something that is, in all honesty, beyond shocking, I realized that Unknown was something much more than a mishmash of other similar films. The finale is incredible, and really makes you feel for the characters.

For a first time director (if the IMDB is to be believed) Simon Brand did a lovely job, but I don’t expect him to be a household name anytime soon. The set was well done, and made palpable a true sense of confinement that the script requires, and the shot selection helps to create a genuine closeness that you feel as if you're confined with these characters. But what it doesn’t have is any originality. The camera work is competent, but nothing that you haven’t seen from other, more versed, directors. Brand has some room to grow.

Also interesting is that the score is very toned down. It never overpowers a thing, and serves to create ambience more than it does confinement or despair. I’m not familiar with any of Angelo Milli’s other work, but I certainly hope he stays in the industry; it’s great.

To say any more about Unknown would be spoiling it, and I wouldn’t want to do that, particularly with a film that desperately needs to be seen. I encourage everyone to give it a rental the next time you are looking to kill an hour and a half.

The DVD Presentation
I was pretty impressed with the Unknown DVD in the tech area. The video looks great (as it should for such a recent release) I didn’t see any compression artifacts. There is an obviously intentional grainy look to the film itself. The 5.1 surround sound is fantastic, not in its volume, but in the ambient effects. You truly feel confined with these people as every little sound comes softly around you. It’s awesome. For those who require them, English and Spanish subtitles are included.

And the Extras Are?
Deleted and Extended Scenes –
Nine additional scenes are included, all of which are presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. The sound isn’t finished; these scenes aren’t of final cut material. In fact, none of them are particularly worth watching since they fail to add much to the story at all. With the total length of less than nine minutes combined, these can be skipped, even for fans of Unknown.

Weinstein Company Trailers –
Not selectable from the main menu, but auto-played when you first start the disc, we get non-amorphic trailers for the following films: Fan Boys, a seemingly funny film about Star Wars geeks, Killshot, The Protector and Factotum. Sadly, there is no trailer for Unknown.

The Bottom Line
Every year thousands of shitty films are released, and chances are you haven’t even heard of the worst. Similarly, it boggles me just how unknown Unknown is. Though unoriginal, this is far from a bad film and can certainly hold its own against similar works. Fans of crime films are sure to have fun with it, and may even be surprised at the twist. The film simply deserves a chance at a wider audience, so it’s a shame that the DVD doesn’t have much extra material on it to draw any attention to it. I would strongly suggest renting Unknown – give it a shot.