unleashed
I rented Unleashed, and managed to set aside some time to watch it this week. Someone recommended it to me a year ago, and I’ve been a little slow on the uptake in terms of watching.
The movie related to a lot of things I’ve been thinking about in terms of being smart and sensitive, and about learning in general. I will warn you that the movie is violent, and if you’re not up for violence in your flicks, then you shouldn’t watch it.
However, if you’re willing to allow that, then it’s a great film. It took me a while to realize that many of the folks involved also made The Professional, a long-standing favorite film of mine, so it’s no wonder that I liked this one so much.
It’s interesting to think of what kinds of controls we put on ourselves in order to interact well with the rest of the world, and also to think if other folks have some kinds of controls on us. I’d like to think the answer is “none” for the latter, but I’m not so sure.
In terms of fighting style - which is something we come to treasure in any Jet Li movie, right? - the choreography is interesting, as they tried to conjure up what a person would fight like if they acted more like a dog than a human being. I was really impressed that Jet Li chose to do a film like this, and it’s gritty and fascinating, and in the end I think his character transforms from being a man degraded to becoming a man empowered and sensitive. That made me really happy because one of the things that has consistently disappointed me with other Hollywood martial arts flicks is that I feel like the main character is dehumanized. Here we pointedly start of with a dehumanized character who takes back his humanity.