Unleashed
I know I said I would review this, and so I finally have. This movie was amazing. I went in thinking that it was going to be another Jet Li movie with a little bit of storyline to be a vehicle for the massive fight scenes. But instead, it turned out that this movie had a lot of heart.
This is a story about Danny (Jet Li), who has been brought up from a very young age for the soul purpose of fighting. He does not know anything else. He only knows how to defend himself and use his body to kill others. But what happens when a nice older gentleman named Sam (Morgan Freeman) lets him find his own personality and dreams?
That is the basic premise of the movie. I figured that Jet Li was simply a fighter, but as it turns out, he can actually act. We aren’t talking Oscar caliber performance here or anything, but he still impressed me quite a bit. He can still fight, and fight well. The scenes where he was fighting others were that much more amazing by the fact that there weren’t a slew of them like in previous films.
I should have known that since Morgan Freeman was in it, that it wasn’t just an action movie, but something with a personality and a purpose. He is truly the embodiment of the father figure in movies these days. Or perhaps maybe even the grandfather. He has played God (Bruce Almighty), the President (Deep Impact), and in his older age has gone more to the grandfather role of a one eyed janitor (MIllion Dollar Baby), and now plays a blind piano teacher in Unleashed. He is an amazing actor and does not disappoint in this, or any of his movies. From time to time, the storyline, or his character may be less than perfect, but his acting is always flawless.
These are really the two main actors in this movie. Although Bob Hoskins, (Enemy at the Gates, Super Mario Brothers) has a sizable role as well as Danny’s caretaker during his fighting days. He does a good job and makes you truly have something against him by the end of the movie. I wanted so badly for something terrible to happen to his character. Which is what his character was written for as the villain.
There is also a girl named Victoria, who is Morgan Freeman’s character’s best friend’s daughter. Did you get that? Yeah, i’m confused now too. She is played by Kerry Condon who I had never heard of before. To be an unknown, I was impressed. She played the little girl part quite well. But her character got on my nerves after awhile. That could have been the acting, but I believe it was written that way.
All in all, this movie was amazing. I really don’t have any negative criticisms of it because it blindsided me and took me by surprise as it was not what I was expecting. If you enjoy martial arts movies with a good storyline, I believe you will enjoy this movie. I would say that this movie gets a 4 out of 5 stars. Go see it.
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