UNLEASHED (2005)

This is it! This is the movie Jet Li fans have been waiting for. It's easily one of the best films he's done. In my opinion, the only Jet Li movie better than this is Fist Of Legend, and that's only by a very slight margin. I was worried that Li would end up like Jackie Chan and just do one horrible movie after another. Films like Cradle 2 The Grave, Romeo Must Die, and The One only fueled this worry, but then Li did something that Jackie Chan desperately needs to do, he took a chance. And by chance I don't mean doing some kind of crazy stunt, I'm talking about the kind of career make or break chance that's outside of the box.
Jet Li's performance as Danny, the man raised as a dog (hence the films production title Danny the Dog), is easily one of his best. Jet has never really turned in a bad performance, but most of his movies don't ask that much of him. Usually he's only required to say a few lines, look tough, and then go kick some ass. This time around Li gets to put all his talents on full display. He's very funny in some scenes. In others you feel sorry for him. And yet in others, he's a raging animal that's out of control. This is a hard role to pull off and Li just knocks it out of the park. The script seems tailored to fit Li's talents and the credit for this has to go to writer Luc Besson. Besson, writer and director of the classic 1994 Leon (better known in the US as The Professional), really did a nice job and has created yet another unique story for an action film.

The cast surrounding Li is also very good. Bob Hoskins does nice work playing Bart, the man that raises Danny as a dog and trains him to brutally attack people on command. Morgan Freeman is his usual solid self alongside the pretty Kerry Condon. Together they play Sam and Victoria who take in Danny and try to teach him how to be human again. Louis Leterrier's direction is very smooth here and he clearly does a much better job with Unleashed than he did with The Transporter.
The fights are some of the best ever captured to celluloid. They're filmed with crystal clarity so you can see and feel every bone crunching punch. The way Jet fights in this movie is amazing. He literally fights like a rabid dog in some scenes and it's just awesome to witness. In Fist Of Legend it was all about technique. In Unleashed there's definitely technique, but there's also lots of emotion. My mind was tingling after a couple of these sequences and after the credits had rolled, I felt like running around the mall and beating up random people. Then I remembered that I have no fighting skills whatsoever so I bought a chocolate milkshake instead. The opening and ending fights alone are worth the price of admission. Yuen Wo Ping once again proves he's the best fight choreographer alive.

There are a few minor problems with Unleashed. It gets a little to sappy and sentimental at times. The movie keeps moving forward though and it never becomes overtly boring. Some people might have a problem with the fact there is a huge battle going on with guns and people flying out of windows and no cops show up. I'm not one of those people though. These are very minor things however and overall Unleashed is simply an excellent movie. It's the best action film I've seen in years and it's got a great story to boot. I can't remember the last time I went to a movie theatre and saw such an adrenalin fuelled movie with both kick ass action and a great story. Unleashed is a true rarity.