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"Unleashed" not a typical action flick |
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Written by NED O'REILLY
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Saturday, 21 May 2005 |
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So yeah, it’s got a whole lot of fast-paced martial arts action scenes and a few shoot-‘em-ups and car crashes. There’s some stomach-turning up-close-and-personal violence. There’s scene after scene of disturbingly amoral behavior. Oh, and it’s a chick flick for a while, too.
This is the new Jet Li vehicle, "Unleashed," written by sci-fi/action vet Luc Besson and directed by Louis Leterrier. It’s a French-produced movie that takes place in Glasgow (Scotland) featuring a slew of English criminals, a blind African American piano tuner and his red-haired American stepdaughter, and a Chinese character played (including flashbacks) by 5 different actors.
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"Unleashed"
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 Entertainment
 Art
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Written by Luc Besson
Starring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins
Rated R for strong violent content, language and some sexuality/nudity.
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This is what globalization can be all about, kids! A young man named Danny (Li) has been raised by a ruthless crimelord (a scenery-chewing Bob Hoskins) to beat the ever living shit out of people on command. Just when you’re getting used to the routine in which Bart (Hoskins) demands his payments from various business types, only to sick his dog (the film’s word) Danny on him if they refuse, the first car crash seems to leave Bart and two henchman dead. Danny escapes and hooks up with Sam (Morgan Freeman in another wonderfully complex performance), the blind piano tuner. Danny lives for a number of months with Sam and his step-daughter Victoria (a winning Kerry Condon) and appears to have turned his life around before running into one of Bart’s thugs and getting dragged back into the criminal life.
Here are the things that really struck me about this film:
- Li doesn’t say a word until 20 minutes into the film, yet is already by then the most arresting character in it.
- Director Leterrier chooses an entertaining array of non-verbal storytelling techniques (Danny’s ABC book, an antique warehouse full of pianos, a sculptor’s studio as a backdrop for a fight scene) to make you consider the piece from the not-so-obvious angles.
- Morgan Freeman continues to be one of our greatest living actors – and Bob Hoskins ain’t bad, either.
- The girl in the film (Condon’s Victoria) does not have to be a babe for the story to work.
- The gladiator subplot borders on action filler, but does ultimately support the film’s theme of discovering one’s humanity amid inhuman conditions.
- The secret of the collar that Danny wears throughout the film is one of the things that make the film great.
- The instances of brief nudity are a perfect argument for why R just isn’t good enough as a rating anymore. Always read WHY a film gets an R! In this case, the story is enhanced by it and it’s a whole lot less exploitative than the violence.
- Action sequences don’t get any better than the climactic one featuring Li beating up countless thugs and an apparent martial arts master, crawling through a ceiling, and breaking through a floor, while Sam and Victoria hide in a closet.
There are some of the typical action film flaws, like why – if Bart’s got so many clients who must know what his methods are, doesn’t someone just shoot Danny? And how does a guy built like Bob Hoskins survive so many apparently fatal attacks and accidents? Also, in an otherwise well-grounded tale, is there really a secret gladiator-style fight-to-the-death arena in Glasgow? But overall, Li’s and Freeman’s exhilarating performances, supported by Condon’s heartwarming one and Hoskins’ menacing one, carry this film up toward greatness.Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
