Unleashed

I dreamed about a movie like this when I was a teenager. Too bad it only came out now. Unleashed is a rarely seen combination of an effective drama, a simple action premise, excellent fight choreography and French charm. We see Jet Li as finally humanized and relatable, Morgan Freeman plays his most typical mentor role and Massive Attack provides the music. (26/11/2007)

A nice surprise in the form of Jet Li's introvert stylization, decent content, which was particularly reinforced by Morgan Freeman, and of course brilliant choreographies, in which Jet Li's main talent - martial arts - stands out. If I take away the fact that this film is mentally exhaustive and predictable in its plot, Unleashed remains an intelligent and well-filmed spectacle that is more than just an action film. Leterrier quite pleasantly combined the features of Hollywood action with European slowness and harsh humor. (24/04/2006)

Amélie from the gritty corners of Glasgow, or the perfect combination of the fierce style of young French directors at the turn of the millennium and the fantastic action choreography of the Hong Kong masters in an enchantingly naive and aggressively brutal action fairy tale, which as a European high-concept blockbuster is also wonderful historical evidence of the peak of production achieved by Besson’s Europa Corp., as no one else has ever put together such a diverse mix of niche-hip names (Massive Attack, RZA, Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Luc Besson, Yuen Woo-Ping). (22/08/2020)

A picture full of clichés that works thanks to the original directing, the actors, the modest running length and decent pace, despite it being a rather obvious variation on Léon: The Professional. The alternation of “intimate" sequences (although we have seen this a hundred times already) with action works pretty well, but unfortunately they don’t seem to belong to the same movie, which is also the greatest problem with this movie. And although there isn’t much action, what there is is worth it. (05/08/2005)

Solidly made, with a very simple screenplay and a restrained message (about family, friendship, and love). I appreciate the minimal use of slow-motion shots and computer effects, which proves how good Jet Li truly is in martial arts, but the quality of the action is far from from his best – Jet Li will probably never be surpass the unbeatable Lethal Weapon 4. The French school is noticeable, and the whole film has a rather European style, but this action flick feels too simple and conservative to me. (31/08/2005)