I've liked Jet Li's movies for a while now. The thing is, I'm referring to his Hong Kong films, like "My father is a Hero," "Fist of Legend," "The New Legend of Shaolin," "Deadly China Hero," the "Once Upon a Time in China" series, and most recently, "Hero" (he's done a lot of movies with the word "Hero" in the title). Unfortunately, his non-Asian films have been downright awful. I liked "Lethal Weapon 4," which was his debut in an American film (and his first time ever playing a villain), but as awesome as he was in it, that wasn't really a Jet Li movie, ya know? The first REAL Jet Li movie in the U.S. was "Romeo Must Die," and that sucked. "Kiss of the Dragon" was next (though it was actually a French production, not an American one), and although it was a little better, it was still pretty bad. "The One" was yet another disappointment. I'd pretty much given up, so I didn't bother with "Cradle 2 the Grave," but I heard that it wasn't an improvement. Now we have "Unleashed" (another French production... I prefer the original title, and the title used in most other countries, "Danny the Dog"). I decided to see "Unleashed" because the premise sounded cool and it had gotten really good reviews (not from real critics, but from other film geek web sites, and for a movie like this, those are the reviews I pay attention to), and I went in hoping that it wouldn't be another disappointment. Well, I'm happy to report that "Unleashed" is, by far, Jet Li's best English-language film.
A lot of Jet Li's films, even some of the good ones from China, are really just a bunch of martial arts sequences with a thin story tying them together. "Unleashed" isn't like that. The first half hour has some kung-fu, the middle is mostly drama, and then there's kung-fu at the end. I should probably mention that the fighting is very brutal. Strangely, there isn't a whole lotta blood, but when Jet Li attacks in the movie, he attacks with intense savagery, he's very vicious. The fight choreography was done by Woo-ping Yuen, the legendary choreographer who worked on "The Matrix," "Kung Fu Hustle," "Kill Bill," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and several of Jet Li's Hong Kong movies. In all those movies, his choreography is very graceful, where the fighting almost looks like a dance. In "Unleashed," it's much more ferocious.
Like with "Kiss of the Dragon," this movie was written and produced by Luc Besson, the French writer/producer/director of "La Femme Nikita," "The Professional," "The Fifth Element," and "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc." He didn't direct this one, though. In fact, he hasn't directed in years, which is a shame, because he's a great director. His writing can be really good, as evidenced in "La Femme Nikita" and (especially) "The Professional," but sometimes his writing can be pretty bad. I didn't like the script for "Kiss of the Dragon," nor did I like the script for "The Transporter," another film that Luc Besson wrote and produced. Fortunately, "Unleashed" is one of Besson's good scripts.
And speaking of "The Transporter"...
"Unleashed" was directed by Louis Leterrier, and this is his second feature film as director, his first being "The Transporter." At least, that's what I think. "The Transporter" is credited as being directed by Corey Yuen, but supposedly, Louis Leterrier also directed the film. He does have a credit as "Artistic Director" (whatever that means), but in interviews I read, it seems like he actually co-directed it, or perhaps he even directed most of it. I dunno, I'm sure there's a story there, but I couldn't find anything online. Let's just say for the sake of argument that "Unleashed" is his feature film directorial debut, and that it's a really impressive debut.
This movie is something new for Jet Li, because it requires that he do some real acting. The entire middle of the film is almost all drama (with little bits of comedy), and he pulls it off nicely. He has to show a fairly wide range of emotion, and he does a really good job. Also in the film is the great Morgan Freeman. When I heard that Morgan Freeman was cast in this movie, I figured it was a good sign. If Morgan Freeman wanted to be in it, then he must have thought it was a worthy script, right? Then I thought about all of his other films and realized that he's been in a couple of stinkers. Also, I read an interview where he freely admits that he took on the role purely for the money. Fortunately, all that is irrelevant, 'cause this is a really good movie. As for Freeman's performance, well, he's one of our greatest living actors, so obviously, he's perfect. His character may be a little TOO saintly (to the point of being foolish), but that's okay. Besides, that's how the character was written. However, Freeman insisted that the character be blind, in order to make his character's saintliness a little more understandable, and he was right. Bob Hoskins plays the villain, and he does some serious scenery-chewing. That's okay, though, since it's appropriate for the role, and it makes the character great fun to watch. Hoskins is a great actor with an impressive body of work, but "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" will probably be the film he'll always be remembered by. Nothing wrong with that, though. Finally, Kerry Condon is in the film as the stepdaughter of Freeman's character. I've never seen her before, I'm not familiar with her previous work, but she was very good in the role. I liked her character, and Condon played her well.
"Unleashed" is an extremely entertaining movie with some brutal fight sequences and surprising moments of drama. I really liked this movie a lot, and I think most Jet Li fans would feel the same way. It's great to see him in a movie doing more than just kicking ass. It's also great to see him star in an English-language film that doesn't suck.
Scale of 1-10: 9