Jet Li stars as a youth raised by the killer (Bob Hoskins) of his mother, and trained to be a "pit bull" fighter in a series of anything-goes martial arts matches. That part of the movie has been depicted a thousand times before, although it is always great to see Li doing his thing against a veritable army of bad guys. But this story takes a rather novel twist: Li meets a blind pianist (Morgan Freeman) who exposes him to the beauty of music and alters his life forever. Li decides he no longer wants to fight, escapes his longtime captor and is off and running from Hoskins and a platoon of thugs. A prolonged battle in and around an apartment complex has to be seen to be believed. While there are plenty of fights and nonstop action, the movie also considers what it would be like to live a contemplative life. I could not imagine Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee pulling this off.
Review of Unleashed
