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7/10

Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Frank Langella, Aidan Quinn, January Jones, Bruno Ganz, Sebastian Koch, Eva Löbau, Clint Dyer, Karl Markovics

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

A good thriller with Hitchcockian overtones and, of course, the almost inevitable twist in the last reel. The first half is the best and the set-up is intriguing: Dr Martin Harris (Neeson), in Berlin with his wife Liz (Jones) for a bio-technical conference tp fete the inventor (Koch) of a new bug-resistant strain of corn, arrives at his hotel minus one suitcase (perhaps the least likely occurrence in the whole film) and takes a taxi back to the airport to retrieve it. En route, his cab is involved in an accident and plunges over a bridge into the river.

Rescued by the driver (Kruger), who subsequently disappears, Harris wakes up in hospital with only limited memory, but, when he returns to the hotel four days later, Liz claims not to know him, and has another man (Quinn) by her side who claims to be Martin Harris and has documentation to prove it.

When it becomes obvious that men are trying to kill the original Harris, who has hired a detective (Ganz) to investigate the affair, the film develops into more routine blood and thunder, with lots of chases and a bomb set to go off at the hotel -and our hero constantly on the run. Even so, it's entertaining to the end, with some good character roles in between, although Mad Men's Jones lacks the personality to give weight to her role. Efficient action throughout, mostly in the form of smash-up highway pursuits.

David Quinlan

UK/Germany/France/USA 2011. UK Distributor: Optimum. Colour by deluxe.
113 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 26 Feb 2011