Unleashed
Unleashed The Movie
Unleashed centers on Danny (Li), a Chinese
man who was raised since he was a boy to be a ruthless killer on command.
His boss Bart (Bob Hoskins in a great role) keeps him in control by keeping
a metal collar around Danny's neck and releasing it when the dirty work
needs to be done. After a rivalry comes to a head in a violent car accident,
Danny gets his freedom and finds a home with Sam (Morgan Freeman), a blind
piano tuner and his step daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon). Together they
try to help Danny get the normal life he's been yearning for, but Bart's
determination to get him back at any cost gets in their way.
Right off the bat, as you can tell from the synopsis, this story for Unleashed
is as cheesy as it gets. By trying to give this film a "human" side instead
of an hour and half of action the film really loses its edge as well as
its audience. There may be a legion of die hard Jet Li fans out there that
will pay to see anything he's in, but the last thing they really want to
see is him trying to stretch his acting chops in a serious role. The thing
is, that's pretty much what this entire movie is. Aside from the first 15
minutes and 3 or 4 scenes in between this movie is all about drama and fails
to find that balance of drama and action it needs to succeed. It's a shame
that the man responsible for such great action/drama films as La Femme
Nikita and The Professional (hell, I'd even throw The
Fifth Element in there) could write this overly sappy film.
Unleashed
Unleashed
Besson's pick for director, Louis Leterrier, does a great job of creating
a visual look and feel for this film. You can tell the guy has studied under
Besson for awhile and has a feel for action films. Every fight scene looks
very fluid and there isn't a lot of confusion as to what's going on. It's
a really good improvement from his previous film The Transporter.
When it comes down to it, the story to Unleashed is very long
and uninteresting. While Jet Li fans will be happy by the great action
Unleashed has, they may feel a tad ripped off by the films need
to focus more on the drama aspect. Jet Li's first attempt at trying to
be a serious actor in a film should be considered a failure, let's hope
he gets back to what made him such a big star in the first place, non-stop
action.
Score:   
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