Laura Sees Movies: Unknown: Movies on a Plane Edition

All righty. I recently flew home to visit my mom for her birthday and I watched a crapload of movies. I always fly Alaska Airlines because my dad is like the George Clooney from Up in the Air of Alaska Airlines and he gives me his miles PLUS they have a vegan box available for purchase on every flight. It's also gluten free, just fyi. Yeah Alaska Airlines!

Alaska, on long flights, has this awesome thing where you can rent a digiplayer which is essentially a little personal movie player and it usually has about 15-20 different movie options as well as tv shows and some games. My flight home is 2 movies long, so I watch 2 on the way there and 2 on the way back. Also, my mom is just like me and wants to watch a movie like every night so we watched a bunch of movies while I was there too.

The first one I want to talk about is Unknown.

A few things off the bat. I like Liam Neeson, I really like Diane Kruger, and the preview was intriguing. That's enough to get my viewership on a plane. Sold! BAM.

It was, well, um, ok I think. I'm weirdly mixed about this flick. My instinct is to say that it wasn't good but the other night I was describing things about it to my friend and she basically said I was making it sound really good and interesting. I mean, that made me think.

The pros: action packed, attention holding, awesome twist, great reveal of information, and the story is told in such a way that your journey as a viewer parallels with Liam Neeson's character as he unravels the meaning behind everything that's happening. It's all about what you see verses what you know. The unknown can make all the difference. (see? that sounds great, right?)

The cons: the second it was over I didn't give it a second thought (until I had a convo about it), I spent the entire time thinking that January Jones was that girl from Mad Men, and although it takes place in Germany, Diane Kruger doesn't play a German woman (um, what?), and most importantly, I didn't feel a thing. I mean, I was consistently interested, and again, impressed with the twist and how well it explained the entire thing but who cares? I liked Liam Neeson's character (but look! I can't even remember the character's name right now! Dr. something?) I liked Diane Kruger's character a lot, but they just don't get into anything interesting or personally emotional.

I never felt swept away, I never got worked up or excited about anything, nothing upset me much and I didn't care very much. That's a fail for me. Honestly, I'm pretty easy to get worked up in a movie. I'm a sucker. If I'm not crying, if I'm not clutching my chest and gasping, not many other people will be either. And although I was thinking and engaged the entire time, there weren't many moments that made the movie unique or gave me anything to walk away with. Nothing stayed with me. Except that the twist was flawless. It was far and away not what I predicted and there were no logistical holes. I love it when there are no holes in a good twist.

So it wasn't great. But it wasn't bad either. I guess I would say it's worth watching on a plane. Ha!