Unleashed (2005)

fantastic, emotional story with brutal action

basically its a story of hope, redemption, and rebirth. Danny(Jet Lee) has been raised as nothing more than an attack dog for his entire life(that he can remember). he has been forced to hurt. forced to kill. he never gets anything in return for the atrocities. he is forced to live in a cage. its the first movie in a while that actually made me care for any characters.

one day a hit is taken out on his owner and company. after things quiet down and the smoke clears Danny is the only man left breathing. he takes his first steps out of the car and to freedom.

He ends up being taken in by a blind Morgan Freeman and his step daughter. their kindness awakens the humanity inside Danny.

i dont want to elaborate on the story beyond that. ill just say this was an amazing movie, and anyone should see it (even non action fans)

great action, great story, great soundtrack, and great acting(the most and best acting ive ever seen from Jet Lee)

apparently the violence was a bit much for some. now, while it was the most brutal violence ive scene in its own stylized subgenre, theres deffinitely more violent fights out there. if the sound of bones bones breaking bothers you, walk away. April 30, 2008

Lousy Li

Not at all what i thought it would be like based on other jet li movies. He is a good actor, but this movie is gross and hard to follow much less understand. Surprised Morgan Freeman got involved in this one. February 13, 2008

Unrated? Unleashed!

Unleashed (Unrated Widescreen Edition)

This is a great DVD featuring an incredible movie. Unleased is probably one of Jet Li's best films, featuring him as a poor, mistreated "slave" fighting for a cruel master. One day he tastes freedom, and the rest is a dramatic roller coaster. The DVD itself is pretty thin on features, but what's there is pretty decent (behind the scenes, fight sequences, etc). Pick it up! For such a low price, you should unleash it on your home theatre! January 21, 2008

suspension of belief isn't quite enough

This was thrilling and disappointing all at once. It takes western martial arts movies to a whole new level, then lets you down gradually, instead of sucking from the very start. As much as I love Jet Li, most of his American movies suck, which is not his fault in the least. Nor is it the fault of his choreographers like Cory Yuen, or in this case, Yuen Woo Ping. These large Hollywood companies just butcher the hell out of the fights in post-production, and this is almost an exception. Does Hollywood believe that that's what we want to see? Six angles for one punch, filmed on a shaky hand-cam? Not me. I hate that. This is still easily Jet's best film since he came to America and blows away crap like "Cradle 2 the Grave" and "The One". Though I must admit that for some reason, I loved "Kiss of the Dragon".

Jet plays Danny, a "dog", raised since childhood by gangster Bob Hoskins to help with collections and other assorted tasks. Hoskins will warn potential deadbeats by threatening to remove Danny's collar, which has a Pavlovian effect on Danny where he knows it's time to kick the tar out of everyone. An accident later leaves Danny injured, wandering, assuming that Hoskins is dead, and into the care of kindly old blind piano-tuner Morgan Freeman and his step-daughter Victoria. Under their influence, Danny starts to come out of his very shy shell and appreciate the nicer things in life, like music, ice cream, warmth (temperature and human), cleanliness, and non-violence. Hoskins isn't dead of course, and Danny will have to fight again for his own freedom.

What bothers me about this movie is that is sets up a silly premise and almost, almost pulls it off. Which wouldn't have bothered me as much if I wasn't so engrossed in Danny's plight. The acting is good all the way around, with an especially impressive performance by Jet. He really pulls off a combination of vicious and deadly under the care of Hoskins, and sweet, shy, and inquisitively wide-eyed under the care of Freeman. It totally sucks you in to the contrasting duality before falling short. It certainly raises some interesting questions about our own feral nature and the effects of civilization. Even more so than Tim Allen's "Jungle 2 Jungle".

The fights are really what attracted me to this, as it should be. After all, this is a Jet Li movie. It likely won't disappoint. All the fights are good, but I am bothered by a film that fails to improve on the opening rumble. The final fight is flawed only by its absurdity of origin, otherwise it rocks. Jet and a bald dude duking it out in a bathroom that's barely larger than a phone booth. These brawls are quite a bit different than any that Jet & Woo Ping have done in the past, together or otherwise. Again, they are over-edited, but in the grainy, dark, "Snatch"-like film quality, they don't suffer as much.

If you like American martial arts films (even though it's technically European), you should see this. It's in a league far beyond most, if not all, in that genre, and nearly transcends several others too... but not quite. January 9, 2008

Happy ever after

This was my first Jet Li film and won't be my last. What I expected, I did not get, meaning real fight scenes. What I did not expect, I got, meaning a really touching story.

Danny (Jet Li) was raised by Bart (Bob Hoskins in a unbelievably brutal and inhumane performance) as a dog, a pit bull, to fight when "unleashed." Early on, the director gives the impression that Danny cannot talk, that he really is like a dog. However, the scene with Sam (Morgan Freeman playing Morgan Freeman, a wise and kind man), Danny reveals he is human, he does respond to humane treatment, and that he is a sweet person inside the dog collar. This is the part I love--the touching story.

Sam and his step-daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon), an accomplished pianist, awaken Danny's deeply dormant sweetness and bring him back to life and eventually help him solve the mystery of his life: Who is he? Where does he come from? Where is his mother?

What I expected was violent fighting, but what I saw was skilfully choreographed martial arts. Other reviewers praise this, but it did not look real to me. It looked choreographed. I could literally see them NOT making contact. A much better movie for realistic fighting is "Ong-Bak: A Thai Warrior" with Tony Ja. Now that fighting looks real!

I really like this movie for its story: for the rebirth of a person from brutality, unkindness, vulgarity, violence, skulduggery. What results is a family, love, kindness, compassion, things that make us better than we are. Add to this the soft kiss of a young girl and the sublime music of a concert hall. Danny is unleashed all right, from a poverty of spirit into a largess of love.

What a fine film this is! Highly recommended!

January 3, 2008

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