Anyone bold enough to meld various elements of Fight Club, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, A Clockwork Orange and Douglas Sirk melodrama deserves a nod for trying something new
Unleashed (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:125
Fresh:82
Rotten:43
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Jet Li gets to emote in some emotionally awkward scenes, but the gritty fight sequences come through in what is Li's best English language film.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $24,380,112
Synopsis: Martial arts superstar Jet Li reteams with French writer-director Luc Besson (KISS OF THE DRAGON) in this psychological action film shot in Glasgow, Scotland. Li stars as Danny, a human attack dog... Martial arts superstar Jet Li reteams with French writer-director Luc Besson (KISS OF THE DRAGON) in this psychological action film shot in Glasgow, Scotland. Li stars as Danny, a human attack dog for a powerful mobster he calls Uncle Bart (Bob Hoskins, looking resplendent in white suit after white suit). When Bart and his men go out on their collection runs, they bring Danny, who has been trained since he was a child to fight to kill. When Bart takes Danny's collar off and commands, "Get 'im," Danny goes to work, an unstoppable machine, using the only weapon he knows: his body. But when a turf war ends up in bloody carnage, Danny escapes and is taken in by a kind family consisting of blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) and his teenage stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon). They teach Danny how to be a real person, to be able to act civilly in society. They also allow Danny to explore his love of the piano, where a specific tune haunts him, bringing up repressed memories from his long-ago past. Just when Danny thinks he has escaped from his former life, he is pulled back in, but he is no longer the trained dog Bart thinks he is. Written by Besson and directed by Louis Letterier (THE TRANSPORTER), UNLEASHED is a gripping, heart-wrenching film fueled by the music of Massive Attack and a relentless visual style. And having taken acting lessons for the first time in his career, Li more than holds his own in the presence of such masters as Hoskins and Freeman. [More]
Starring: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Vincent Regan
Starring: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Vincent Regan, Kerry Condon, Dylan Brown, Tamer Hassan, Michael Jenn, Carole Ann Wilson, Michael Webber, Jaclyn Lee
Director: Louis Leterrier
Director: Louis Leterrier
Screenwriter: Luc Besson
Producer: Luc Besson, Jet Li, Steven Chasman
Studio: Rogue Pictures
Reviews for Unleashed
An incompatible marriage of film noir, Gothic fairytale and martial arts movie.
Li's fighting sequences are unique for their street fighting style of realism and brutality...
Unfortunately, the fight scenes (and there are several) are very frontloaded.
Has a "been there, done that" feel, as if writer/co-producer Besson has returned to this concept one time too many.
Freeman is better than his role, and Hoskins is a powerful presence. Li almost pulls off a psychologically complex role. But in the end, Unleashed is a muddled film.
Para cada bom filme que escreve, produz ou dirige, Luc Besson realiza outras dez porcarias. Esta é uma delas (e nem mesmo as boas seqüências de luta podem salvar um roteiro absurdo, esquemático e com personagens unidimensionais).
Unleashed is a must-see for Jet Li fans -- he's so good in it, in the end he even prevails over the movie's boldly improbable and distracting plot.
An intriguing little action thriller, a half-and-half story divided between sequences of vicious violence and quiet, wryly comic scenes of newfound domesticity.
If a movie is only as good as its villain, then Unleashed is a very good movie indeed.
Although silly, the premise is engaging enough to let viewers invest in the characters, giving them an emotional stake in the frequent, and spectacular, fight sequences.
Latest News for Unleashed
August 23, 2007:
Box Office Guru Preview: War Leads Army of New Releases
Action stars Jet Li and Jason Statham face off this weekend in the new crime thriller War which leads a flood of new releases pouring into North American multiplexes trying to... More...
September 21, 2006:
Box Office Guru Preview: Jackass Crashes into Theaters
Four new films open wide, but they may not be enough to stop the North American box office from suffering its third consecutive down weekend. More...
September 18, 2006:
"Hulk 2" Director Talks Lou Ferrigno, Jason Statham & Indiana Jones
Louis Leterrier, he of "Unleashed," "Transporter 2," and the upcoming "The Incredible Hulk," was cool enough to sit down and answer some questions... More...
July 20, 2006:
"Unleashed" Director to Helm "The Incredible Hulk"
With Comic-Con just underway, you can expect a lot of super-geeky news to start hitting the streets ... and here's #1: Louis Leterrier, who recently directed Jet Li in... More...
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