Did you like Oldboy? The Bourne films? Fight Club? Leon? If your answers include "No", you have no place discussing films on the internet. Go back to the Hallmark channel immediately and never return.
If your answers include "I haven't seen it", rectify the situation forthwith. IMDb will be here when you are ready to return.
If your answers are "Yes, Yes, Yes and good golly Yes again!", prepare yourself for another film that reaches the cinematic standard of these stylish masterpieces.
Unleashed (as I saw it) starts with gangster Bob and the boys collecting their protection money, with Jet Li (Danny the Dog) trailed around on his leash as a threat, much as you might with a Dobermann or Pit Bull terrier. Those who don't pay get seven shades of ..something beaten out of their bloody, broken corpses. This is not the purity of Wu Shu Kung Fu, oh no, this is martial arts crossed with no-holds-barred pub fighting: heads smashed, limbs snapped, furniture broken, noses broken, and a great deal of hair removal by fingers alone. Pay up, or pay now and then pay up.
Stuff happens (I'm not going to ruin it), and Danny finds himself alone and taken under the wing of blind piano tuner Morgan Freeman (playing 'Morgan Freeman' on full wisdom & shmaltz settings). By and by, Danny (who's been raised - and badly treated - like a dog) begins to be rehabilitated and discovers the small joys life can bring. ACTION FANS: this is not a bad thing. Jet Li somehow manages to stay the right side of 'cute', Morgan Freeman manages to express waryness as well as a warm welcome, and thanks to superb sound and directing we get one of the most tense moments I've ever seen in any film. I was literally holding my breath, totally tensed up, and thinking "God no! Don't do that!!!". Beware if this Director ever decides to do Horror - it could be so scary he'll have the audience carried out on stretchers & oxygen.
Anyway, Danny's past catches up with him. It always does, usually about two-thirds of the way through a film. And then we're back to some more serious violence, followed by a brief pause before even more serious violence, a 'boss battle' which reminded me of the albino twins in Kiss of the Dragon, and the inevitable confrontation at the end. There's some back-story flashbacks & revelations thrown in too, but not so much as to be annoying. Then the film is over, you walk out of the cinema, and text the mate who couldn't join you to tell him he missed an INCREDIBLE film, ha ha, and I'll see it again if you want to go.
Special mention for Jet Li - a tour de force, not just in the action scenes but also for his portrayal of a man who has basically been brutalised from a very young age, and is even scared of himself.
Special mention for Bob Hoskins - who I've not really rated before, but here he manages to flesh out a very convincing, reprehensible character. Great dialogue gives him a verbal dexterity we don't usually see in our cardboard-cutout villains, as well as a definite emotional connection to Danny (twisted though it is). We're clearly supposed to see him as one of those dog owners who treats his dog very badly, but still cares for it in his own sick way.
Special mention for the director & editor - for fabulous fight scenes, with LONG CUTS so we can actually see Jet Li's skill and Yuen Wo Ping's choreography. Also for maintaining pace and interest through the middle where most filmmakers would die on their butts. Also for creating AMAZING tension (because YES, in real life if you try to rehabilitate/domesticate a wild animal there's always the threat that it could flip out and kill you without meaning to). Also for perhaps the only film I've ever seen with A) car crashes that don't end in ridiculous explosions and B) characters that survive car crashes AND show signs of injuries! Where is this crazy wave of realism going to end!? We'll have characters remembering to eat, sleep and go to the toilet next..
I can only think of two minor criticisms: 1) The middle of the film takes place over a few (or several) months - but you don't get much of a sense of time passing. Like it says in Team America, maybe we needed a montage ("montage, yeah!"). 2) There's quite a big plot point that goes completely unresolved. I can't explain too much, but essentially I believe a significant 'payback' scene is missing from the final third. The main story doesn't need it, but I would like to have seen what happened.
Unleashed / Danny the Dog - whatever it's called, go see it. It's fab.
If your answers include "I haven't seen it", rectify the situation forthwith. IMDb will be here when you are ready to return.
If your answers are "Yes, Yes, Yes and good golly Yes again!", prepare yourself for another film that reaches the cinematic standard of these stylish masterpieces.
Unleashed (as I saw it) starts with gangster Bob and the boys collecting their protection money, with Jet Li (Danny the Dog) trailed around on his leash as a threat, much as you might with a Dobermann or Pit Bull terrier. Those who don't pay get seven shades of ..something beaten out of their bloody, broken corpses. This is not the purity of Wu Shu Kung Fu, oh no, this is martial arts crossed with no-holds-barred pub fighting: heads smashed, limbs snapped, furniture broken, noses broken, and a great deal of hair removal by fingers alone. Pay up, or pay now and then pay up.
Stuff happens (I'm not going to ruin it), and Danny finds himself alone and taken under the wing of blind piano tuner Morgan Freeman (playing 'Morgan Freeman' on full wisdom & shmaltz settings). By and by, Danny (who's been raised - and badly treated - like a dog) begins to be rehabilitated and discovers the small joys life can bring. ACTION FANS: this is not a bad thing. Jet Li somehow manages to stay the right side of 'cute', Morgan Freeman manages to express waryness as well as a warm welcome, and thanks to superb sound and directing we get one of the most tense moments I've ever seen in any film. I was literally holding my breath, totally tensed up, and thinking "God no! Don't do that!!!". Beware if this Director ever decides to do Horror - it could be so scary he'll have the audience carried out on stretchers & oxygen.
Anyway, Danny's past catches up with him. It always does, usually about two-thirds of the way through a film. And then we're back to some more serious violence, followed by a brief pause before even more serious violence, a 'boss battle' which reminded me of the albino twins in Kiss of the Dragon, and the inevitable confrontation at the end. There's some back-story flashbacks & revelations thrown in too, but not so much as to be annoying. Then the film is over, you walk out of the cinema, and text the mate who couldn't join you to tell him he missed an INCREDIBLE film, ha ha, and I'll see it again if you want to go.
Special mention for Jet Li - a tour de force, not just in the action scenes but also for his portrayal of a man who has basically been brutalised from a very young age, and is even scared of himself.
Special mention for Bob Hoskins - who I've not really rated before, but here he manages to flesh out a very convincing, reprehensible character. Great dialogue gives him a verbal dexterity we don't usually see in our cardboard-cutout villains, as well as a definite emotional connection to Danny (twisted though it is). We're clearly supposed to see him as one of those dog owners who treats his dog very badly, but still cares for it in his own sick way.
Special mention for the director & editor - for fabulous fight scenes, with LONG CUTS so we can actually see Jet Li's skill and Yuen Wo Ping's choreography. Also for maintaining pace and interest through the middle where most filmmakers would die on their butts. Also for creating AMAZING tension (because YES, in real life if you try to rehabilitate/domesticate a wild animal there's always the threat that it could flip out and kill you without meaning to). Also for perhaps the only film I've ever seen with A) car crashes that don't end in ridiculous explosions and B) characters that survive car crashes AND show signs of injuries! Where is this crazy wave of realism going to end!? We'll have characters remembering to eat, sleep and go to the toilet next..
I can only think of two minor criticisms: 1) The middle of the film takes place over a few (or several) months - but you don't get much of a sense of time passing. Like it says in Team America, maybe we needed a montage ("montage, yeah!"). 2) There's quite a big plot point that goes completely unresolved. I can't explain too much, but essentially I believe a significant 'payback' scene is missing from the final third. The main story doesn't need it, but I would like to have seen what happened.
Unleashed / Danny the Dog - whatever it's called, go see it. It's fab.