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Directed by: Louis Leterrier Starring: Jet Li, Bob Hoskins, Morgan Freeman Being a superstar Kung-Fu master gives one very little time to show their acting ability. Jet Li is usually seen doing Kung Fu, not acting. Lets get this out of the way right now: the legendary fight coreographer Yuen Wo-Ping (Kill Bill 1&2, The Matrix Trilogy, Kung Fu Hustle)is -as always- on target with Unleashed. There are two or three scenes that are incredibly well done and have the marks of some of Yuen's best works, (including one scene in a bathroom that rivals any fight I have seen on screen in a long time). Wire-fu is in full effect, but it is not too overwraught or overdone, he lets Li do what Li does best: fly around and kick the living hell out of dozens of attackers, usually all at once. The stunning thing about this film is Li's acting ability. He plays Danny, a man literally caged like a dog and trained to be a killing machine. When his owner Bart (Bob Hoskins) is taken out by a rival criminal lord, Danny finds himself with no where to go. He is taken in by a piano tuner named Sam (Morgan Freeman) and his stepdaughter Victoria (Kerry Condon). All seems well until one of Bart's henchmen literally runs into Danny on the street. Will Danny be able to get out of the clutches of an evil henchman and live with his surrogate family? Or will he be forced to live out his days as a mindless killing machine? I think the answer to that will be obvious to 90% of the moviegoing public afer about an hour of the film. While everyone involved gives above average performances, ultimately the story tries a little too hard to make sure everyone is certain about Danny's fate. While I have loved some of Besson's works (The Professional, Fifth Element, Le Femme Nikita) I think he writes two kinds of stories: the somewhat nihilistic, let the cards fall where they may kind and the 'Love Conquers All' version. I am extremely interested in seeing the French release of this film (Danny the Dog) only because both Le Femme Nikita and The Professionaly have much different intonations in their plots and stories relative to the US releases. I can't help but wonder if this film was meant to be something else. All in all, however, I would definitely recommend seeing it in the theater. The fights deliver, the sound is incredible and Jet Li is fantastic. Just don't expect a kung-fu fightfest with no baggage. 3.5/5 (Mods: I was pretty surprised that no one had posted a review for this yet. I sorted the Title column, and did a search but couldn't find it. If for some reason I have double-posted this, I'll happily remove it.) RATING: 3.5 PROS: Amazing fight sequences and camera work, Jet Li's acting performance CONS: Script/Story a little too melodramatic, minor plot holes ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342258/
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May 16, 2005 22:50
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 16:35 |
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The fight sequences were very good. The usual flash from action movies was gone, in it's place fast, hard brutality. Yes, some wire-work was used, but it never distracted the viewer from the fight itself. Props to the sound effects guys. Every impact of flesh-on-flesh was visceral. Every hit sounded painful. Every time that collar came off you immediately got that rush of adrenaline; He was going to beat someone senseless. The story was great as well. Several times I nearly choked up because of how close you begin to feel to the main character. Melodramatic? Maybe. Jet Li's acting ability does shine through, even though this role might seem simplistic to some. He portrays emotion and frailty despite his gritty upbringing. The reason I went and saw this movie (I had not seen previews for it) was because  Massive Attack did the soundtrack, which is fantastic by the way. The movie surprised me; I had not expected it to be this good.4/5
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May 17, 2005 00:50
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I almost missed seeing this one. I heard nothing about it until I looked up the movie listings in my area, trying to find something worthwhile. After seeing Ebert give it a thumbs-up on his website, and finding that Luc Besson wrote the story and Jet Li starred in it, I gave it a chance. As it turned out, I really liked it. The action scenes are amazing, especially the bathroom fight scene mentioned earlier and the one in the pit/arena towards the end. But don't expect too much, as the majority of the movie is devoted to the plot, which is thankfully very good. The whole premise of the movie sounded stupid to me at first, but it works really well, thanks mostly to solid acting from everyone involved. Morgan Freeman can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned, and Jet Li shows acting dimensions I've never seen from him before. There are a few implausibility problems, though they can be fairly easily overlooked. One of these was Victoria's character (played by Kerry Condon, a completely new face to me). She just seemed so impossibly naive and innocent at first. However, after seeing the entire movie, I think it ultimately works better that way, and was necessary for the story; and you definitely end up caring deeply for her character this way. Another thing was with Bart, played by Bob Hoskins. This guy goes through numerous beatings, a car accident followed by a shooting, and then ANOTHER car accident, and he pops right back up with only a small scar on his nose and a couple braces that he quickly discards? Come on. But again, it was necessary that it worked out that way, and can be overlooked. 4/5 RightClickSaveAs fucked around with this message at 06:57 on May 18, 2005 |
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May 18, 2005 06:55
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Very good. Very very good. The action scenes, though infrequent for a major action film, were well done. The story, though a little corny, was well done, and nicely intertwined with the action as a whole. I saw this the same day as Star Wars, and it has one tenth the budget, but twice the talent and fun. 4.5/5
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May 19, 2005 16:17
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I thought this movie was a lot of fun with some really great fight scenes with an actual story. The whole pit battle scene was hilarious. For such a dark, slower movie, they were straight out of Bloodsport. The part where the owner of the arena, who is such a polite, straight faced man, suddenly screams "Weaponssss!" like some kind of barbarian and everyone in the audience grabs medieval weapons from racks and throws them down into the pit. Oh poo poo, I was screaming out loud in laughter. Or maybe that was just me. Score 4/5
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May 20, 2005 16:29
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An enjoyable action flick that was surprisingly well-shot and tossed together. The only thing I can see wrong with it is the simmering melodrama which was awkwardly written by Besson, but I've come to expect that from him. Definitely Jet Li's best English movie ever. I hope he makes more of them. The fight scenes are obviously stellar, with Yuen Woo-Ping at the helm the one with the white monk in the narrow bathroom was my favorite). And the Massive Attack score was pretty well placed throughout. 4.5/5
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May 20, 2005 17:34
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I was left very disappointed by this movie, after looking forward to it for a long time. Almost every scene felt terribly contrived and cliched to the point of  .I was hoping for a dark, serious thriller with a couple of important fight scenes but instead got a typical cheesefest with very few redeeming qualities. This is coming from someone who loves Jet Li and can happily put up with stuff like C2TG, because with a movie like C2TG you know you're getting cheesy crap and don't expect a serious movie with a decent plot. Maybe I was expecting the wrong thing with this flick, I don't know. I sure as poo poo wasn't expecting big goofy punks with battle axes, though. Pros: Jet Li, good score, some nice fights (opening beatdown + confined space fight) Cons: lovely plot smothered in cheese, poor dialogue, lame characters. 3/5
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May 22, 2005 11:16
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I can't believe people are giving this movie that high of a rating. Honestly, I enjoyed the fighting A LOT, but it still didn't make up for the lovely acting and crappy story. We were suppose to care about Morgan Freeman's character, but his performance was so awful that I ended up laughing at most of the things he said. Like when he got pissed off at the girl for going to eat ice cream. Give me a break Morgan. You're blind. Your adopted daughter should be out getting her vagie filled by football players and you're worried about her eating ice cream before dinner? The only decent thing that came from Freeman was the last two lines he says. *smacking a guy on the face with a flower pot* "He needs to shut the hell up. He talked some serious poo poo." Also, Jet Li just got on my nerves. I can't believe anyone actually liked this besides the action. Pros: Jet Li beating rear end that makes you cringe sometimes. Cons: The horrible acting and story that makes you cringe, all the time. Rating 1/5. And that's being leniant because of the awesome/random violence.
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May 26, 2005 05:25
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Some fights were way too overdone, especially towards the end. But the solid plot and good acting took me by surprise and therefore it gets 4.5 I drew a connection to The Professional before learning about Luc Besson. Highly recommend.
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May 29, 2005 08:20
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It doesn't take a sharp eye to realize that Jet Li and Luc Besson are after a different type of action film with "Unleashed." The film seems to value character over elaborate action sequences, which allows a rare opportunity for the audience to become fully invested in the characters. "Unleashed" has some incredible fights that are extremely well choregraphed and brutal looking. Hell, under the right cirumstances, "Unleashed" should have been a very fine film. However, because "Unleashed" tries to be more than an action film and less about the fighting, it suffers a bit. It needs to be just as good at drama as it is at action, or the whole thing will feel muddled. The family parts of the movie might have looked pretty good on paper, but on screen they feel really cliched and rushed. PROS: - Jet Li (as a fighter or an actor) - This is probably Jet Li's best english action movie - Good Score in some parts - Good cinematography CONS: - Drama taken down a few pegs by cheezy dialogue - Bob Hoskins is cheezier than a bag of Cheetos OVERALL: 3.0 You'll think it was alright when you first watch it, but you won't remember it in a few weeks or so.
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May 30, 2005 20:38
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I agree that this movie is somewhat schizoid but that I'm not sure it could have been done much better without sacrificing either element (fighting versus "story" and character development). The main weakness for me was the plausibility of Sam and his daughter taking in Danny in the first place. I accepted it, but I could easily see it derailing the movie for many other people. If you do buy it though, it makes the film much more rewarding. Danny's redemption becomes much more emotional, the kindness of Sam and Victoria becomes much more appreciable, and the last recital scene has an emotional payoff that is hard to deny. The dramatic scenes are written without much refinement, but they still provide the barely adequate minimum to keep you interested and invested in the characters (assuming you can suspend enough disbelief initially). The action on the other hand, is pretty awesome. This movie's fights are the antithesis of the arty, balletic wire-fu found in Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hero, et al. Bones break, gristle crunches, and people get hit over and over again just because Danny's completely around the bend. Every fight for him is simultaneously like the very first and very last he could ever be in; I think the movie succeeded in communicating the animal desperation very effectively. I actually liked the 'cage matches' the least, since they seemed to be less spontaneous and intense. All in all, it is a good film. Not great certainly, and if you are at all cynical you might not enjoy it at all. It's got gritty action movie fights (though with a big lull in the middle) and it's got enough story and characterization that theoretically it could satisfy both audiences. Lastly, this explanation for Jet Li's accent beats by far any fabrication to explain how badly the muscles from brussels speaks ("I grew up in france", "I have brain damage", "this lump on my forehead is a tumor"). However, why is Morgan Freeman blind? It felt kind of gratuitous, and I'm not really sure it added anything to the character. If he wasn't blind, would he not have taken Danny in? Since they don't go out of their way to address the implausibility of this fact in the first place it seems odd that they just might write it off that "he's blind and can see deeper into people's hearts than sighted people". On the other hand it might be to demonstrate the depth of his charity, that even vulnerable as he is he would still open his home to a complete stranger. The problem for me is that it's not obvious which of the two it is, which seems kind of sloppy when the rest of the film is so unambiguous. 3.5/5 Pros - - Adequate plot and character advancement - Pretty rockin action. Cramped bathroom fight definitely kicked rear end - Fight scenes were actually comprehensible instead of being shot close-in, quick cuts, etc. Cons - Adequate might not satisfy everyone vis a vis plot and character advancement - Fight scene pacing was somewhat awry - Bob Hoskins thinking he's in Snatch - Jet Li as wooden as ever though with a good excuse
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Jun 1, 2005 13:25
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I liked this movie. I found the action sequences to be very good - when he headbutted a guy's fist while he was trying to punch him and the fight in the small bathroom both come to mind as outstanding. The acting wasn't very good, especally on Morgan Freeman's part, and I felt like the pacing was a little off, too. It went from very action-heavy to very drama-heavy, with little balance in between. I suppose that was intentional, to show Jet Li's character's transformation and such, so I forgave it. The end of the movie really bothered me. Morgan Freeman's insistance that Jet Li not kill his 'uncle' confused me - it seemed to me that he had every good reason to kill him - and his comment that he'd go to jail if he did made very little to no sense - was beating a man nearly to death no longer a crime? How in the world did they resolve all of that with the authorities? What happened to Uncle Jackass? It just cuts to a scene with the recital, and doesn't address what to me was a really odd transition in the plot. However, the action scenes and the story in general, which both made a lot of sense and was as compelling as an action movie's story can get. I give it a 4/5, for a good story and good action with minor problems. Very worth seeing.
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Jun 5, 2005 00:48
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