Just a quick heads up to those who are looking for a great action film: look elsewhere.  Is "Unleashed" bad?  Not at all.  But don't let the advertising full you.  This is a drama more in the vein of "Leon" and less in the vein of some of Jet Li's shameful American flicks like "Cradle 2 the Grave."

Li plays Danny, a quiet man whose only really distinguishible feature is a collar wrapped securely around his neck.  Though once the collar is removed, he is a one man army.  Danny alone is capable of taking out dozens of foes staying in one place... that is, should the words strike him to do so.  Controlled by his "Uncle" Bart (Bob Hoskins in one of his best roles in quite some time), the collar is the gateway between low-key Danny and a**-kicking Danny.

Except Bart has a problem when, during a car accident, Danny escapes to the home of a blind piano tuner that he met earlier (Morgan Freeman, who's good no matter what he's in... "Dreamcatcher" excluded).  Li soon takes up residence with Freeman and his teenage step daughter, Victoria (the appropriately annoying Kerry Condon).  Together, the three form an interesting family dynamic and everything is going fairly smoothly... until Bart comes calling for his "dog."

Now, as mentioned earlier, it should be made abudantly clear that action makes up less than a third of this movie.  Though, I mean this as more of a compliment as it is the advertising that is misleading.  Directed by Louis Leterrier (co-director of "The Transporter") and scripted by Luc Besson (please start directing movies again!), "Unleashed" is a much more deeper film than one might immeadiately think.  There are some great lines of dialogue and Li does a particularly fine job of playing what is essentially a thirty year old infant.

Of course, that is not to say that the action isn't fantastic.  Leterrier and Besson have crafted some brilliant fight scenes including an interesting bout where Danny is determined not to hurt his opponents as well as a really cool scene that takes place in a bathroom stall that is no wider than three feet.  It should come as no surprise, then, that these breath-taking matches were chorerographed by Woo-ping Yuen, the man behind "The Matrix" films and "Kill Bill."  This guy turns fighting into an artform, and once again it shows in "Unleashed."

My only big problem with the film is the editing.  Very rarely will I pick on the chop job, but in this case, there are some glaring problems.  For some reason there is an alarming amount of continuity errors as well as a somewhat shotty ending that seems very slapped on.  Just too many loose ends really.  Luckily, these are just nit-picks, and, as a whole, this one's a clear winner.

Fans of "Leon" should see this immeadiately, as it reminded me of Besson during his glory years.  With great performances and stellar direction, "Unleashed" is one not to be missed in theaters.

***1/2 out of ****

Nice review. I'm glad to hear it's good as I've seen trailers for it on a number of occasions and I become more interested each time I see one. I have been considering going to see it when it comes out here (UK) so with your positive review I may have been fully persuaded lol.

Ian

its a great movie...Hey I watched Li’s movie on the same day to forget the sucking ‘Batman Begins’ and it worked! THX Li

“Unleashed” is lot more better than ‘Britty’-Nolan’s Batman, it has new ground breaking story telling and good camera works.

I just seen the DVD and this movie is so much a breath of fresh air that it reminds me why I hate Hollywood and the actors they call stars. Yes this movie has one of them but it's just so much more original than anything Hollywood could think of.

Story, character, heart everything I love about films is in here even some great fighting... They even make Jet Li look like a child somehow in a few scenes, you feel sorry for him on a human level.

The DVD features are a little weak and it has nothing really that you'd want but the film is good and all so I forgive them for putting out an Extreme pile of nothing.