A Rogue Pictures Release
Story - $10.50
Acting - $10.50
Directing - $10.50
Production Design - $10.50
Special Effects - $10.50
Score/Music - $10.50
*"REEL" VALUE - $10.50 = In this touching and action packed story, Jet Li’s biggest challenge is acting with his talent costars and he proves he has the moves to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman.
SYNOPSIS: On the meanest streets of Glasgow, the hoodlum Bart (HOSKINS) is heartless with debtors, would-be rivals, and anyone else he takes a passing dislike with. Bart maintains his reign of terror through his unwitting enforcer Danny (LI). “Raised” by his “Uncle” Bart since he was a boy, Danny is kept as a near-prisoner. He has been trained to attack and, if necessary, kill. What Danny knows of life comes from crudely and cruelly life Bart has fashioned for him.
When Danny has a rare encounter with soft-spoken blind piano tuner Sam (FREEMAN), he encounters a true kindness and compassion for the first time. As Sam plays the piano Danny experiences the transforming power of music. A sudden gangland coup separates Danny from Bart and he seeks refuge with the only other person he knows, Sam. Sam and his spunky teenaged stepdaughter Victoria (CONDON) open their home and hearts to Danny and it allows Danny to begin to imagine a new future for himself. However, Bart will not give up his prize pupil so easily, and Danny will be forced to fight back and protect his new family,
REVIEW: Director Louis Leterrier, writer/producer Luc Besson, and martial arts sensation Jet Li come together to tell a classic Dickens like tale and elevated it to new extremes with the addition of Jet Li and his martial arts skills, plus the amazing fight choreography of Yuen Wo Ping. The filmmakers have high regard for the story they’re telling, as evident in the casting of Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman and veteran actor Bob Hoskins. In addition, the role of music in this plot sets it apart from your typical martial arts or action film.
Director Louis Leterrier does a brilliant job of blending all these elements together to tell this touching story of a badly treated man who, after years, regains his life and humanity through the love and care of a family that befriends him. Leterrier sets Freeman’s and Hoskin’s performances up as extreme opposites, allowing for enough emotional distance between them so Jet Li, like his character who is forced to fight, must act. Leterrier is able to obtain a performance from Li unlike anything we’ve every seen him do on screen before. Li, who worked with an acting coach several weeks before the filming began, continued to train with his acting coach through the entire shoot. The results of his dedication to this character are remarkable. There are moments when Li is on screen with his co-stars Morgan Freeman and Kerry Condon that this innocence comes through and you believe he is eight-years old boy trapped in this man’s body. Yet there are other moments where he is able to bring out this lethal nature, much like an animal stalking its prey in the wild.
Working with Li’s performance, Martial Arts Choreographer Yuen Wo Ping creates a fighting style that reflects Danny’s nature and evolves as he goes through his transformation. Early in the film it is a more offensive, animal, like style that grows into a defensive, more intelligent style of martial arts. There is so much thought put into the style and its transition that it is more than martial arts for the sake of martial arts. That is not to say that fans of Jet Li will be disappointed. Leterrier works with Wo Ping and Circle Crew Ltd. to design some intense fight sequences. One of the best comes when Li is forced to fight a lethal opponent in the confined space of a narrow toilet alcove. The overall design and evolution of the fight sequences adds another level to this tale in much the same way the use of music in this film.
Leterrier takes an innovative approach to the score for UNLEASHED. Working with the group Massive Attack he allows the group to blend their trippy funk-pop sound with that of the classical music component of the story. There is a juicy interplay between the music that highlights the fight sequences and adds another level of tenderness to the film’s more dramatic moments.
All to often filmmakers talk about reinventing a specific genre, but I think what the cast and crew of UNLEASHED have managed to do is create a ne hybrid of the martial arts film. The movie is an unparallel balance of all the facets required to tell this complex tales. When was the last time, if ever, you saw a film with martial arts in it where you were as emotionally moved by the story as you were energized by the martial arts? On top of all that, UNLEASHED proves that Jet Li’s martial arts skills rival his acting abilities. UNLEASHED offers up a positive message about love, family, and violence, making it far superior to the typical blockbuster, “junk food,” type of films that parade through the theaters during the summer release schedule.
CREW: Director - Louis Leterrier; Writer/Producer - Luc Besson; Producers – Jet Li and Steven Chasman; Cinematographer - Pierre Morel; Music - Massive Attack; End Credits Songs - The RZA; Production Designer - Jacques Bufnoir; Costume Designer - Olivier Beriot; Wire Technology - Circle Crew Ltd.; Martial Arts Choreographer - Yuen Wo Ping; Special Effects Supervisor - Georges Demetrau; Jet Li’s Acting Coach - Mel Churcher; Digital Special Effects - Mac Guff Ligne, Menfond Electronic Art & Computer Design Co. Ltd., Hong Kong.
CAST: Danny… JET LI; Sam… MORGAN FREEMAN; Bart… BOB HOSKINS; Victoria… KERRY CONDON; Raffels… VINCENT REGAN; Lefty… DYLAN BROWN; George… TAMER HASSAN; Wyeth… MICHAEL JENN; Maddy… CAROLE ANN WILSON.
* Based on the regular $10.50 ticket prices of a Manhattan theater.
Reviewer: Joseph B. Mauceri
Score:
Related web link: Official UNLEASHED Site