Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures / Dark Castle Holdings / Optimum Releasing

You know exactly what you are getting when you stick a Liam Neeson film on. Some poor guy picks a fight with the wrong person, and before long Neeson’s fighting for them, making sure the culprit is having a very bad day.

Ever since Taken came out, we’ve got so used to watching him sort everyone out that it’s easy to forget he has done some brilliant thrillers where things aren’t quite so straightforward. And that’s where Unknown comes in. This 2011 film has been making noise for years, but it’s one movie you should definitely give another look, mainly because Neeson spends most of it trying to work out what the hell is going on rather than just getting his way out of trouble.

Now, the story starts off normally enough, with Neeson playing Dr Martin Harris, an American scientist who’s popped over to Berlin with his wife, Elizabeth, played by January Jones, for a biotechnology conference. And if that sounds normal enough for a Liam Neeson film, you need to give it a few minutes.

Soon enough, Martin ends up in a nasty taxi crash, and the guy has to spend four days in a coma. As he wakes up, his first thought is to get back to his hotel and get on with his life… Except when he gets there, his own wife looks him straight in the face and says she hasn’t got a clue who he is. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s another bloke, standing there claiming to be Martin Harris.

Astonishing, right? You’ve been unconscious for four days, and suddenly some random fella’s nicked your entire life. And the mad thing is, nobody looks bothered about helping him prove who he is. The more Martin tries to explain himself, the more suspicious everyone gets, and after a while even you start wondering whether he’s got the wrong end of the stick.

Luckily, he manages to get some help from Gina, the taxi driver played by Diane Kruger, although she, just like any sane person, doesn’t want to be a part of this mess.

Now we won’t spoil what happens, because half the fun is trying to work it out yourself, but just when you think you’ve finally got an idea of what’s happening, the film makes you question everything.

One of the best things about Unknown is that it doesn’t require Liam Neeson to punch people every two minutes, although don’t worry, there’s still a decent bit of action when things finally start unfolding. Director Jaume Collet-Serra makes Berlin feel like a pretty miserable place to be stuck when your whole life’s gone down the toilet, and those cold streets really add to the feeling that Martin’s got nowhere safe to turn.

For the cine lovers, it’s got that old Hitchcock sort of mystery going on, where you can’t quite trust what you’re seeing. Is every little detail important? Is someone lying? Or has Martin completely lost his marbles? Sure, it’s not an Oscar-worthy tight drama, and there are moments where the story gets a bit ridiculous. There are a few places where things get far-fetched, and if you’re someone who likes to pick apart every little plot hole, you’ll probably have a field day with this one, but come on, you’re watching a Liam Neeson thriller, not sitting through a police training video.

Sometimes you just want a film that gets its hooks into you and makes you forget about checking your phone, and this does that rather well. So if you’re having one of those evenings where you’ve spent longer looking for a film than you actually want to spend watching one, give Unknown a go on Netflix.