Time: 102 Minutes
Cast:
Jet Li as Danny / Danny “The Dog”
Morgan Freeman as Sam
Bob Hoskins as Bart
Kerry Condon as Victoria
Director: Louis Leterrier

I have seen most of Louis Leterrier’s movies. Looking in his filmography however, there was one movie which I hadn’t heard of before. This is Unleashed, which starred Jet Li and Morgan Freeman. Checking it out, it turned out to be surprisingly good and possibly the director’s best.

Unleashed has one of the more unique action movie plots, while remaining straightforward all the way through. It does well at balancing drama and action, and the most surprising thing is that there’s more drama than action if anything, as we see Jet Li’s character trying to start a new life. Much of this movie is dedicated to him attempting to regain his humanity and adjust to normal life with the help of Morgan Freeman and Kerry Condon. There’s heartfelt human drama which is treated with seriousness and care and takes its time despite the short runtime. At the same time, the movie knows when to add in action scenes, and the main ones in the middle section and in the third act climax are clear highlights.

Jet Li delivers one of his best performances here. Of course, he’s great at the action and stunts, but he is also amazing at the more emotional aspects. As Danny, he conveys his vulnerability and changes over the course of the movie, even with his minimal dialogue. Morgan Freeman and Kerry Condon are really good and effectively brought a lot of warmth to their characters. For Freeman, this fatherly sort of role is very easy and familiar for him to play, but he is genuinely great here. Bob Hoskins is incredible and a scene stealer as the main villain. He’s menacing, intimidating and unhinged but also over the top in a way that makes him entertaining to watch. There’s also a bit of complexity to him with his performance, to the point that in some of the scenes with Jet Li, it makes you question whether he’s actually being genuine and loves him to some degree.

Louis Leterrier’s direction is quite good. Visually, it very much is a mid 2000s film with the editing, desaturated colours and overall look, but I think it worked for the movie. The action is incredible, Letterier has made plenty of action movies, but he’s at his best when he gets to direct martial artists doing their thing, which is seen in his Transporter movies and now this. The fight choreography is really good, it wasn’t just flashy and fancy, it actually felt brutal and grimy. They capture everything on screen really well, and it’s edited appropriately, allowing you to actually see what’s happening on screen. The score from Massive Attack added a lot to the movie too.

Unleashed is an underrated action movie, with a heartfelt story, a solid cast and some really good action. It is well worth checking out if you haven’t seen it already.