# In "Unknown," why doesn't Neeson's character just go to the US embassy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369 "2012-12-07T23:08:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/1 "2012-12-07T23:08:21Z")
😕Why is he spending time fucking around Berlin poking a conspiracy large enough to steal his identity and even has his wife on board? EDIT:To elaborate he is an American in Berlin with his wife, he is in a car crash and loses his passport to awaken to find another man has assumed his identity and his wife insists the other man is her husband. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/2 "2012-12-07T23:10:13Z")
Because the movie would be incredibly boring if he did. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/3 "2012-12-08T17:58:20Z")
**Unknown, why doesn’t Neeson’s character just go to the US embassy?** For the same reason that Harrison Ford’s character in “Witness” didn’t go to the state police or FBI when he was trying to keep himself and a murder witness safe from corrupt Philadelphia officers. > [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > Because the movie would be incredibly boring if he did. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/4 "2012-12-08T20:33:40Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Because the movie would be incredibly boring if he did. It turns out the movie was incredibly boring anyway. Even January Jones was bored and she was in the damn thing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/5 "2012-12-08T20:53:21Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It turns out the movie was incredibly boring anyway. Even January Jones was bored and she was in the damn thing. Is she ever not bored? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/6 "2012-12-08T21:21:49Z")
Added [in Taken] to the thread title to indicate the name of the film the thread’s about. — Ellen ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/7 "2012-12-08T21:26:24Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Added [in Taken] to the thread title to indicate the name of the film the thread’s about. > > — Ellen Except it’s not about Taken. The OP had already indicated what film he or she meant in the title. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/8 "2012-12-08T21:26:26Z")
The movie title is “Unknown.” Although that’s hardly clear from the title either. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/9 "2012-12-08T22:22:05Z")
I guess his very particular set of skills didn’t include dealing with state department bureaucrats. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/10 "2012-12-08T22:56:12Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Added [in Taken] to the thread title to indicate the name of the film the thread’s about. I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for praise, I can tell you I don’t have any. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you change the thread title back now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not parody you, I will not mock you. But if you don’t, I will search for you, I will mock you, and I will laugh at you. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/11 "2012-12-09T00:18:51Z")
Sowwy guys. ☚ ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/12 "2012-12-09T01:44:52Z")
I’m struggling to recall the details of the movie but if he had gone to the Embassy, would he even have been able to prove he was an American? If I recall correctly, he didn’t have any documentation and the identity he was claiming seemed to be well occupied by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/13 "2012-12-09T02:20:50Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > I’m struggling to recall the details of the movie but if he had gone to the Embassy, would he even have been able to prove he was an American? I’ve never had need to go to an American embassy but I would think they could obtain or pull up a copy of your passport and maybe even other ID like a drivers license based on you giving your name, date of birth, SS#, etc. They have to have some way of identifying the people who come in saying they were mugged and lost their documents. Edit: Oops, never mind probably. Since I never saw the movie I don’t know about someone else “filling his identity”. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-unknown-why-doesnt-neesons-character-just-go-to-the-us-embassy/643369/14 "2012-12-09T03:28:32Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Sowwy guys. ☹ To be fair, both are pretty generic action movies starting the recently redefined Liam Neeson in full mid-life crisis mode. Even more confusing is that Nicolas Cage is apparently making knockoff versions of these films (re: _[Trespass](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1674784/)_, [_Stolen_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1656186/)) as part of his insideous plan to destroy the American film industry by overwhelming it with films so bad even Third World nations that still think Sylvester Stallone is an action hero won’t watch them. And to the point of the o.p.; have you ever been to an embassy or consulate office? You’ll spend hours–maybe days–bouncing from one desk to another by people who could care less about your problems and just signed on to see some exotic locale, not realizing that they’d end up pushing paper in bumfuck Republic of Nowhereonia. It’s probably easier and certainly more entertaining to take on an international cabal of terrorists than to spend a day at the consulate, especially for Liam Neeson, who is apparetly now Ireland’s answer to Daniel Craig, Jason Statham, and Robert DeNiro combined. Wait until he ambushes someone with a cup of ginger ale. “What color is the boathouse at Hereford?” Stranger