# Unleashed- movie review



## Reilly Hall (Jun 1, 2005)

Unleashed

Jet Li is a man used to portraying philosophical, gentle men, while demonstrating the grace and flow of his art of wushu kung-fu. 

Not this time. 

Pummeling his adversaries in a fighting style reminiscent of Planet of the Apes, he seems to have dropped Buddhist proverbs and finesse for “die die die!” If you’re only watching the movie for the fight scenes, you won’t be disappointed. Li rampages through these while slaughtering his foes without mercy.

Jet deserves much more recognition than he’s going to receive for this movie. He plays Danny, a young man trained from birth to be Bart’s (Bob Hoskins) “dog”. He plays the obedient killing machine so well that we can wonder if a man is playing a dog, or a dog is playing a man. In parts, he shows us childlike enthusiasm and wonder once displayed by Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black.

If fight scenes aren’t your bag, you’ll also be intrigued by the dynamic created through Sam (Morgan Freeman), a blind piano tuner who, because of his disability, is able to see Danny’s inner-child instead of simply a disturbed young man. Danny’s surrogate family, Sam and his daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon), takes him in and teaches him that there may be something wrong with his past life, showing him kindness and a respect that has been, until now, nonexistent. He has been trained to be a killer all of his life, and now, seeing that it may be wrong, is faced with his entire world falling apart.

If this were a Disney movie, we’d easily see a real dog trying to figure out where his loyalties lie. With a unique story, don’t drop the ball on this one, unless it’s to fetch it.


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