Unleashed

Click Poster to view Trailer

This movie is not what you think it is. With a beautiful musical score composed by Massive Attack, I dare you to take this exit ramp off your normal movie-going course (if martial arts flicks aren't your thing), and check out this dazzling and surprisingly touching story about a trained killer (played w/lethal sharpness by Jet Li) who is kept like a dog on a collar by a ruthless mobster (played w/brutal finesse by Bob Hoskins).

I'm not even going to tell you the premise because hearing it removed from the context of the film somehow cheapens the otherwise startling effectiveness of seeing it played out before your eyes on the screen. All the performances are tightly executed, and there is never a moment of cheese to be had in this powerful story of personal redemption. The fact Morgan Freeman not only stars in it, but turns in yet another unforgettable performance, should be reason enough to get anyone's curiosity spiked.

I can only highly recommend that you go out of your way to see it, as I have. It is a movie that will never fail to literally bring the tears flowing from my eyes, its effect being that profound on the attentive viewer.

Certainly a cut above your standard martial-arts action movie, the screenplay by Luc Besson is brought perfectly to celluloid light by a tight ensemble cast, and the fact the storyline goes somewhere unexpected lends class and depth to what otherwise may have been thought of as just another kungfu flick. Not so, not by a long & harrowing shot.

UNLEASHED is simply one of the top Best movies of 2005, and I am proud to say I own the Uncut version on DVD.