Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Unleashed Blu-ray Movie Review

Another Wild Child.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 11, 2011

François Truffaut offered his take on a sort of young Caliban story in his 1970 film The Wild Child. Supposedly based on a real life 18th century event where a child who had little to no human contact in his early life was found and “civilized” by well meaning Parisians, the film was a meditation on the savagery of nature versus a different kind of brutality courtesy of the bourgeoisie. This “wild child” trope has been a staple of films, though it’s often colored differently, from the historical semi-accuracy of The Miracle Worker and Helen Keller to Disneyfication in such films as The Light in the Forest. It’s still unusual, to say the least, to see this device utilized in a martial arts film, and it’s one of the reasons Unleashed is such a bracing film experience so much of the time. Though its subject matter may strike some as unseemly and distasteful, in Luc Besson’s screenplay, Louis Leterrier’s direction, and an especially interesting performance by Jet Li, Unleashed manages to rework the wild child idea in a completely unexpected manner, making this one of Li’s most compelling films. Add in some very nice supporting work from Morgan Freeman and a despicable Bob Hoskins, and there’s a lot of meat on Unleashed’s “canine” bones.

Jet Li portrays a hapless young man named Danny who has led a life as little more than a vicious attack dog for gangster and loan shark Bart (Hoskins). Danny lives the bulk of his life in a cage, being set “free” (definitely a relative term) only when Bart has debts to collect. He keeps Danny collared, again like a dog, removing the restraint only when he is giving an attack command. Danny responds by bursting into furious action, decimating multiple nemeses as easily as a pit bull can chew through a hand or two. At one of these explosive “collection” events, Danny is seen by an underground fight promoter. Later, at yet another collection, Danny is left in an antique store full of pianos, something he fantasizes about courtesy of a picture book that is about his only companion in his cage. At the antique shop he’s befriended by kindly blind piano technician Sam (Freeman). Bart doesn’t fare especially well at either of these imbroglios, and he’s about to sell Danny to the highest bidder when the fight promoter shows up and offers Bart big bucks to enlist Danny in the fight events. At a sort of showcase, Danny makes quick work of the reigning champion and Bart sees that there may be a light at the end of his loan sharking tunnel. Before he can reap the rewards, however, he finds himself on the business end of both a Mack truck and a machine gun, as one of his previous “business associates” decides there’s an easy solution to having to deal with both Bart and Danny. With Bart seemingly dead, Danny escapes and soon manages to reconnect with Sam and, soon thereafter, with Sam’s stepdaughter Victoria (Kerry Condon).

Most of the rest of Unleashed is a high wire act between Sam and Victoria’s attempts to humanize Danny, teaching him everything from simple things like how to use a fork and spoon to more intellectual pursuits like reading and, yes, playing the piano, and a suddenly alive and kicking Bart, whom Danny runs into and soon is recaged by. Li is incredibly impressive in this film, doing perhaps his most nuanced, if often heartbreaking, work as the hapless Danny, a man-child who is unaware of his own animalistic behaviors until Sam and Victoria slowly introduce him to his human side. Danny is an unusually complex character for what in at least some ways amounts to a martial arts spectacular, and Li is able to convey the confusion, menace and tenderness of a man who can erupt into furious battle at the drop of a hat (and/or collar) one moment and then suddenly cry at the sound of a plaintive melody played on a piano the next.

As impressive as the talent in front of the camera in Unleashed is, it is most likely the synergistic energy between scenarist Luc Besson and director Louis Leterrier which gives the film its decidedly unusual edge. Besson has dabbled in his own wild child world, with its own sudden bursts of extreme violence, in La Femme Nikita, which can almost be seen as a female version of Unleashed. Leterrier went on to direct The Incredible Hulk and the recent Clash of the Titans, and if neither of those films really rose to their ambitious heights, they nonetheless showed that Leterrier is a completely capable and often ingenious stager of action sequences, something that is presaged quite effectively in Unleashed. But perhaps more than in his American films, Unleashed finds Leterrier really working magic with his on screen talent, crafting some nicely nuanced performances from Li and Freeman, and letting Hoskins loose on a “mad dog” portrayal of his own.

Martial arts films aren’t often thought of as being the province of the thoughtful screenplay, but Unleashed, despite its down and dirty elements, actually manages to engage the viewer on a much deeper level than most films of this ilk generally do. Li has never been finer, performance wise, and the fight sequences, as is to be expected, are magnificent. But the film itself is so patently unusual that even those without the slightest interest in Chop Socky spectaculars may find a compelling story here that just happens to feature a lot of bone crunching action.

Unleashed Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Unleashed knuckles onto Blu-ray with a cool green, fairly desaturated VC-1 encoded transfer in 1080p and 2.35:1. This is not a film bursting with color, by design. Instead we get pallid fleshtones, a cityscape dripping with grays, beiges and browns, and very few incidences of bright, flashing hues. In fact, even the blood, which is quite abundant, tends toward a dark rust color rather than brilliant crimson red. All of that said, if you can get past the almost monochromatic look of the film, there's really quite an abundance of fine detail here, despite some intentionally overblown contrast and other post processing effects. Some of the close-ups are actually astounding, revealing the strata of Freeman's fingernails and every pock mark in Li's weathered face. Depth of field in the outdoor shots is exceptional, and grain throughout the film looks natural without being overwhelming. There is some minor shimmer here and there, but it's nothing too distracting in the overall scheme of things.

Unleashed Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unleashed benefits from a completely explosive and propulsive lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, one which bursts from the gate with overwheming LFE and rarely lets up after that. The sound of pummeling fists and breaking bones shatter through the soundfield in extremely immersive action sequences, usually to the thumping sound of a bass. Dialogue is clear and directional, easy to hear and well mixed with the sound effects and booming underscore. Dynamic range on this track is really jaw dropping at times, and the low end here is impressive, to say the least. Even with the preponderance of low frequencies throughout the mix, dialogue never gets buried, a testament to how well the sound effects mixers did their jobs on Unleashed.

Unleashed Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unleashed isn't such a good dog in terms of supplements:

• Two versions of the film, Unrated and Theatrical, are virtually the same. The unrated version runs 1:42:45 and the theatrical runs 1:41:46.
• Director Louis Leterrier Unleashed (SD; 5:13) is an OK interview with the director.
• Serve No Master (SD; 10:01) features interviews with Li and Hoskins, as well as showing how some of the fight choreography was staged.
• The Collar Comes Off (SD; 12:47) is a somewhat longer EPK which features a lot of the same footage as Serve No Master.
• Two Music Videos, including "Atta Boy" by Massive Attack (SD; 1:47) and "Unleash Me" by The RZA (SD; 2:43).
• D-Box Enabled

Unleashed Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Li has always been one of the more interesting presences in martial arts films, but he's never been more compelling than he is in Unleashed. Backed by the gentleness of Morgan Freeman and the hyperbolic fury of Bob Hoskins, Li is the centerpiece of one of the most unusual ostensibly "martial arts" films in recent memory. But much like Besson's Nikita, this is a film which rises above the conventions of its genre to offer a unique story that revolves around a childlike central character coming into his own. Well directed by Leterrier, and with an above average Blu-ray presentation, Unleashed is Highly Recommended.