Unknown, Blood Diamond
I watched a couple of movies last night that came via Netflix.
Unknown is a very simple, concise thriller revolving around 5 men who wake up in a building in the middle of nowhere and don't remember who they are or how they got there. It's a very interesting premise, but the movie can't quite stretch it into a truly engaging 90 minute experience. Usually I like a thriller that restricts the action to a small area, forcing the characters to deal with simpler more visceral problems as opposed to grand conspiracies. In this case they did not restrict the environment enough; providing a side plot involving the police searching for some kidnapped men (2 of the aforementioned amnesia victims). Plot twists involving the men gradually remembering recent events aren't paced very well and are far too convenient for the situations in which they occur to fully pull you in to the storyline. That said, it is well acted and entertaining enough to hold it together for a fairly watchable experience. 3/5
Blood Diamond received much praise and awards considerations, but I found it to be highly overrated. There is nothing that sticks out in Blood Diamond as being the one aspect that didn't work and brought the movie down. It just never made me care all that much about the characters. There are some fantastic action sequences and some moving moments, but everything is just too slick for its own good. The acting is good, although I think Di Caprio should have been nominated for The Departed instead of Blood Diamond, but that's another discussion. Perhaps my biggest problems with the movie was it used a few too many common cliches, such as the protege being double crossed by his former mentor, along with plenty of melodrama (director Edward Zwick's forte). 3/5
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