Review of Unleashed (2005) by Shane V — 23 Dec 2009

Taking a look at the talents of Jet Li in today?s review of Unleashed.

Unleashed takes place in modern day London. A boy named Danny(Jet Li) is controlled by a diabolical loan shark named Bart(Bob Hoskins), who has trained him to fight for him when he takes his collar off. Since Danny can remember, Bart and his goons have been the only family he has ever known, and fighting was his only use in life. He's basically trained like a dog. But after a particularly vicious bit of business, their car is hit by a truck and shot up, supposedly killing Bart and the thugs. Danny survives and seeks to have a life of his own with the help of a blind piano repairman named Sam (Morgan Freeman).

I have to say that I was not all that excited about this movie when I first saw it. But by the end I was completely engaged. I expected another mindless action movie, but this film had a surprising amount of heart to it. Of course the action is amazing (duh, it's Jet Li). A spectacle of martial arts fighting. Every actor turned in fantastic performances, with Hoskins nailing the part as the ruthless Bart. This film perfectly melds stylish super-hyped action with mentally arresting emotion. This film gets an 8.5 and comes as my most recommended unpopular film. If you need a good action movie that can double as a flick to see with your chick, I recommend this to you.