| | | "HD-DVD, The Look and Sound of Perfect."
Features: DVD, Widescreen, English, Spanish, French, Dolby, Digital Audio, Dolby Digital (5.1)
Martial arts superstar Jet Li delivers a break-out performance in the gripping, action-packed story about a man raised from childhood by a ruthless crime boss (Academy Award nominee Bob Hoskins) and becomes a violent killing machine. When a blind piano tuner (Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman) takes him in, Danny (Li) tries to start a new life, but his brutal past follows him, forcing him to fight back. Featuring breath-taking fight choreography by Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix and Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2).
"...easily [Li's] best, most consistently exciting film in quite some time." Jeff Vice, Deseret News
"...top-grade..." Lou Lumenick, New York Post
"One of the best Sunday Afternoon action flicks since the glory days of Schwarzenegger." Michael Ferraro, Film Threat
"Jet Li lets fly with his fists and feet of fury." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"The most enjoyable film Besson has had his name on in eons." Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
Editor's Note
Martial arts superstar Jet Li reteams with French writer-director Luc Besson (KISS OF THE DRAGON) in this psychological action film shot in Glasgow, Scotland. Li stars as Danny, a human attack dog for a powerful mobster he calls Uncle Bart (Bob Hoskins, looking resplendent in white suit after white suit). When Bart and his men go out on their collection runs, they bring Danny, who has been trained since he was a child to fight to kill. When Bart takes Danny's collar off and commands, "Get 'im," Danny goes to work, an unstoppable machine, using the only weapon he knows: his body. But when a turf war ends up in bloody carnage, Danny escapes and is taken in by a kind family consisting of blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) and his teenage stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon). They teach Danny how to be a real person, to be able to act civilly in society. They also allow Danny to explore his love of the piano, where a specific tune haunts him, bringing up repressed memories from his long-ago past. Just when Danny thinks he has escaped from his former life, he is pulled back in, but he is no longer the trained dog Bart thinks he is. Written by Besson and directed by Louis Letterier (THE TRANSPORTER), UNLEASHED is a gripping, heart-wrenching film fueled by the music of Massive Attack and a relentless visual style. And having taken acting lessons for the first time in his career, Li more than holds his own in the presence of such masters as Hoskins and Freeman.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo | | Dubbed: Spanish | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | This Is An HD-DVD Made For HD-DVD Format Players Which Produce Higher Quality Picture & Sound |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 6/26/2007 |
| Running Time: 102 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2005 | | Catalog ID: 62101611 | | UPC: 00025195013123 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, Spanish Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.35:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Bob Hoskins | | Jet Li | | Kerry Condon | | Morgan Freeman | | Bernard Grenet - Executive Producer | | Fiona Riddick - Art Director | | Jacques Bufnoir - Production Designer | | Jet Li - Producer | | Louis Leterrier - Director | | Luc Besson - Writer | | Massive Attack - Original Music By | | Nicolas Trembasiewicz - Editor | | Pierre Morel - Cinematographer |
|
| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"Li is action poetry in motion." 05/19/2005 p.85New York Times
"The infinitely silly, unconscionably entertaining action film UNLEASHED earns most of its juice from the martial-arts star Jet Li, the eminent martial-arts choreographer Yuen Wo Ping and the fine British actor Bob Hoskins in full terrifying lather." 05/13/2005 p.E13 Entertainment Weekly
"[H]eartfelt, heart-stopping....Bounding out of the gate like a greyhound, UNLEASHED needs only its first 30 seconds or so to elevate itself well above the average action potboiler." 05/20/2005 p.53 USA Today
"The staging and editing of several fights are tops even by the standards of Yuen Wo-Ping..." 05/13/2005 p.6E ReelViews 7 of 10
"Unleashed is two radically different movies fused into one. On their own, each of the films might have stood a chance of working, but, brought together in concert, the radical shifts in tone create a weird dichotomy that will distract and disorient some viewers. As if that isn't bad enough, the storyline contains elements that are so patently ridiculous that you half-expect members of the Monty Python troupe to show up on screen to say, ""And now for something completely differentÉ""...Credibility comes via Bob Hoskins, who spits venom and chews the scenery with gusto, and a serene Morgan Freeman. These two are good enough that there are times when their performances bridge the credibility gap created by the script. Add in Li's agile battle skills, and moments are created when suspension of disbelief is an attainable concept. Unfortunately, Unleashed's unevenness becomes its undoing. The film contains enough quiet, reflective moments for us to become aware how preposterous the central conceit is, and that keeps us at arm's length." - James Berardinelli
Reel.com 8 of 10
"For a movie set and filmed in Glasgow, Unleashed is about as un-Scottish as it gets. The stars are Chinese (Jet Li), British (Bob Hoskins), American (Morgan Freeman), and Irish (Kerry Condon); and the writer (Luc Besson) and director (Louis Leterrier) are French. None a single character in a supporting role sports a Scottish brogue...Unleashed is a study in contrasts: good vs. evil, dark vs. light, strong vs. vulnerable, captive vs. free and, the biggie, alive vs. dead. There are ways in which these contrasts are cliche (perhaps because they're, oh, overdone?), but the writing, direction, performances--and above all the editing--help Unleashed to rise to the top of the pack in your not-so-average martial arts and British gangster flicks...No matter what you're expecting from Unleashed, you will probably find it--and more." - Sarah Chauncey
|
| |
|
|
|
1
3
