Holy Shit, this film is fucking unbelievable :yikes: !!

I've been looking forward to it for over half a year, since I heard it would be a change of pace from Li's generally shitty American offerings, it had Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins in it and was being scored by Massive Attack. Fast forward to today and Jesus Christ this film totally kicked my ass.

First off the fighting and choreography in Unleashed, done by Wo-Ping of Matrix and Fist of Legend fame, is some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen. Jet Li is literally an animal unleashed as he kicks, punches, bites, claws, elbows and head butts his way through everyone like a hot knife through butter. It is truly satisfying to watch someone's face getting pounded into the ground multiple times, or hearing bones break ](*,) . At least two fights in particular are easy candidates for a future "best movie fights" discussion.

But what makes this particular film stand out is the character of Danny and the quieter moments which he spends with Sam and Victoria. Jet Li has never displayed range like this in anything I've seen him in. His backstory is genuinely heartbreaking, leading to some well earned emotional moments. Even the delightfully despicable Hoskins comes off better than your average son of a bitch villianous bastard.

And the music by Massive Attack is exceptional. Some super-fly beats that matched the mood and tone of the film perfectly and more quiet and subtle piano and string compositions that came off beautifully over the dramatic moments. This music is unique and stands out, not only in this genre, but among all movies and may end up being my favourite score of the year when all is said and done.

God Damn! Go and see Unleashed. You'll thank me :wink: .

A+

Great to hear as I was expecting a good film.

Dying to see this tommorrow.

As much for Hoskins and Freeman as Jet Li.

Damnit Goldie, you just accentuated my glaring spelling mistake of Unbelievable #-o .


:wink:

Seriously though, this film delivers in spades. Have a good time.

Don't worry - the spelling mistake was probably only due to the excitement from seeing this movie.

just got back from it and man is it better in the big screen.
last month i saw it on my pc, the french version, and luved it.
the american version is just as good BUT,BUT,BUT i hated the change in the end.
they cut the tear scene. i was so looking forward to that part.

B+

You can see the producers went to a lot of trouble making this an atypical Jet Li / martial arts movie. Unfortunately, although the movies heart's in the right place, this whole enterprise sinks under it's own weight.

Thank goodness for Bob Hoskins! We just don't see enough of his tough/crazed/sensitive characters anymore. Does anyone else remember his work in such fine movies as: Brazil, Mona Lisa, or Shattered?

Otherwise, Morgan Freeman is on autopilot, doing his usual schtick here and the storyline holds few surprises. There's a couple of good fight scenes, but all they did was make me want to see the vastly superior recent film Ong Bak again.

2 out of 5.

A pleasent surprise. Unleashed is so different from what the trailer made it out to be. It's an action movie, but get this... it's actually a brilliant, well-crafted, and heart-warming (in a small sense) action movie. The movie basically shows the dark side and bright side of Jet Li's life. First, the dark side, where he's being tortured and treated as a dog. This part of the movie, by the way, is brilliant. It's actually disturbing during one scene to actually watch him act like a dog when he's, you know, a human? Then, when he's discovered by a blind man and his perky daughter, who take Jet Li into their home and actually teach him to speak, to play the piano, and... to love. It was sad (in a good way), and at times, wonderful. But, don't let these descriptions fool you. Unleashed is, of course, an action movie, and doesn't fail to do so. The action scenes are some of the best I've seen in a while. This could easily be Jet Li's best performance ever. He actually did great. Morgan Freeman was, of course, great as usual. I really liked this movie. It's not your usual action movie. It takes such a simple story, and turns it into a work of art and great filmmaking. B+

Others movies include The Long Good Friday, I think that is what it is called, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

If you loved Man on Fire, you will love Unleashed. I dont know why but I get that vibe from the movie when I saw it. Unleashed combines action and drama with a heart. Jet Li isnt the best actor out there, in fact he pretty much has the same face over and over again in all his movies but in Unleashed he really surprised me that he can express a whole range of emotions for his character. The supporting cast does a really good job too including Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins and the lady who plays Freeman's stepdaughter. I dont know how to describe the movie but it reminds me of that one Jodie Foster movie where she plays a recluse except with kung fu. Excellent musical score too for the movie. Like Man on Fire, you really feel sadness for the main characters and they are given a second life with the new people they meet, I love these kinds of stories

A-

As no one has mentioned this - this movie was written by Luc Besson

who was married to Milla J - Resident Evil

Here is some of his work as Writer - filmography

Unleashed (2005/I) (written by)
The Transporter (2002) (written by)
Kiss of the Dragon (2001) (screenplay)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
The Fifth Element (1997) (screenplay) (story)
"La Femme Nikita" (1997) TV Series (Nikita character)
Léon (1994)
... aka Leon (UK)
... aka The Cleaner
... aka The Professional (USA)
Point of No Return (1993) (film La Femme Nikita)
... aka The Assassin (Australia) (UK) (USA: video title)
Nikita (1990)
... aka La Femme Nikita (USA)
... aka Nikita (UK)

What happened and what was different?

NOW this is a movie with truly amazing fight-scenes. Wonderful movie at times too. By far the best american Jet Li movie. Definately worth seeing. B+

hmmm... is it really that worth seeing? i mean the movie had been release for over than 2 weeks in my places, but tilll now it didn't pick my interest to go and see it. i need to hear more from you guys.

Yeah go and see it Bell. Awesome Fights and a great story. You will love it, I predict. :razz:

Even though I was looking forward to this - I never would have thought it would have gotten the above glowing reviews.

I say take a chance on it.

If you want my opinion... yes, yes yes! \:D/

This is a good one. I was surprised by the good performances.

A

P.S: Focus really screwed up the marketing and release pattern for this. 1900 theaters at the beginning of summer is too low.

This is Jet Li's best performance by a mile. I went in expecting a usual ass kicking action film, which it is, but it also has a wonderful story with Freeman's character giving a great one liner at the end.

A
'

BJs Grade:

A+

This movie rocked, miles better than I could have ever expected Jet Li gives the best performance I have ever seen by him. Freeman was great as well, his character made the movie, without him there is no movie. I highly recomend this film to anyone interested in it

A- Great performances, fantastic action, lots of heart. Very well done.

UNLEASHED - 7/10 (B-)

A good flick, but it did drag at times. It isn't as good as other Luc Besson produced films like HIGH TENSION, THE PROFESSIONAL, and THE TRANSPORTER.

I enjoyed it. Some of the best (realistic) fight scenes I've seen in awhile.

It didn't really touch my heart like some of the other people, but it reached for more than it was, and that is commendable.

B


This movies seems really somewhat overrated to me. I did not think that it stood out of Jet Li's usual fare. Whcih doesn't mean it was bad, but it certainly wasn't an action/drama masterpiece some made it out to be either. The fights were great, but they were really too few inbetween. The drama just didn't work well for me. Jet Li is a great actor for fight scenes, but I just didn't buy him really in the drama scenes which, in my opinion, dragged a little bit. Morgan Freeman was decent, even though not really at his oscar-worthy level and I was positively impressed by the actress who played his daughter, Kerry Condon. Bob Hoskins was really good as the villain, even though a bit generic, but Hoskins' insane self always works.

As I mentioned above, the fights were good, but there just weren't enough of them and what I thought lacked was some good showdown. Don't get me wrong, I am not against drama in action flicks, but I thought that the drama aspect in this one didn't deliver quite well, so I wish there were some more action to make up for that.

Overall, it is still a decent action flick and yet least better than most of Vin Diesel's fare, but my favorite English-speaking Jet Li film remains Kiss of the Dragon.