Unleashed: Unrated DVD Review:

If anyone can bring emotional integrity to characters who are trained killers, it is Luc Besson. From La Femme Nikita to The Professional, Besson has always managed to bring incredible stories of violence onto the screen, but what makes the stories remarkably unique is the ability to make the films as equally sweet as it is violent. Unleashed has surprisingly increased the heart-warming elements, and even though the violence is extremely brutal, the focus remains on the characters, something that most action films don’t have the patience or courage to try.

Instead of using guns as weapons, Unleashed features Jet Li as Danny, the trained assassin who uses his body as a weapon. Danny was raised from childhood by a ruthless crime boss, treated like an animal and trained to be a killing machine without emotion. Danny is essentially used to collect money, taken along as a docile companion until his collar comes off, in which case he immediately beats everyone in the vicinity senseless. Eventually Danny is even used in an underground fighting competition in order to win money for his master, but Danny longs for something else. After a transaction goes horribly wrong, Danny runs away and finds himself in the care of a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman) and his daughter. Suddenly Danny is given the chance at a normal life and he begins to experience things for the first time. Life is perfect until his past begins to catch up to him.

Unleashed begins and ends with brutal action which is very different than we have seen from Jet Li, but the middle takes the time to build the characters and doesn’t feel rushed to postpone any action whatsoever. When there is action it is intense, choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping of The Matrix and Kill Bill fame. In between the fights we see a side of Jet Li which has not been shown before. Li proves that he can do more than just punch as he plays a childlike character, experiencing life for the first time, despite the fact that he easily kills men.

The differences which make this DVD unrated are minimal, but purists will still prefer this version. The problem with the cover and the “unrated” claims is that it may lead people to believe they are getting a different film than this is. All of the focus on the menus and the artwork of the DVD points towards violence and action, but that is really only about half of the film. Some action fans may find themselves disappointed when they find there is as much drama and human qualities in the film as there is action.

The special features include an interview with the director, Lois Leterrier, who made his name from The Transporter. This interview is only about five minutes long and it deals mostly with what the director thinks about the cast and how he got involved in the project/Luc Besson. There is a featurette about the fight sequences, with interviews with Jet Li and Bob Hoskins as well as some behind the scenes footage of the fight sequences. Unfortunately there are no comments by the fight choreographer. This featurette is ten minutes long. The best featurette is a behind the scenes featurette with interviews from all of the major players, including Morgan Freeman who seems to be favored in the featurette. Unfortunately none of these features go very deep behind the making of the film, and they all are just promo featurettes. There are also two music videos, one by Massive Attack and the other by The RZA.



Ryan Izay