Review of Unleashed
*Two minor spoilers: one rodent-related, the other only relevant if you've read the Epic of Gilgamesh
These are just a few scattered thoughts:
1. The basic story is as old as Enkidu and Shamhat, and that's pretty old. I think Jet Li a pretty good impression of a man who had been raised like a dog - first beaten and then very clingy, cheerful, and loyal. He did interesting things with body posture and so-forth.
2. Morgan Freeman exudes fatherliness, avuncularity, and warmth. He's also very tall. I suspect that both of those aspects led to his getting this part. If nothing else, he made Mr Li look short and fragile. He's also a convincing person to bond with.
3. Jet Li is a very graceful man. In most of the movies his fighting style shows that. That's one of the interesting things about Unleashed - when he fought it was very short and savage blows, and you saw the grace only when he leaped and dodged.
4. It was nice to see a perky skinny chick as the heroine. I liked her.
5. There Were No TVs. In any scene. Not even the bad guy was so crass as to have an idiot box in his lair. I can't help but feel there's a moral there...
6. I loved the production values and set-dressing. The colouring of the movie was lovely. There was comfortable clutter in one house and dank dark greys in the villain's lair, a woman singing in a shower, a little mouse scuttling across one of the frames... there was a lot of attention to detail from the movie-makers.
7. It's odd how many violent movies are mushily sentimental, and how many action heroes will, at some point in their lives, make a movie in which they play a character with a very vulnerable side: Jean Claude van Damme in Replicant, all those warm fuzzy movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger's, even the scene in The Saint where the hero gets dunked in an ice-covered river and goes spoggly with hypothermia for a while. I think it's King Kong Syndrome, myself.
These are just a few scattered thoughts:
1. The basic story is as old as Enkidu and Shamhat, and that's pretty old. I think Jet Li a pretty good impression of a man who had been raised like a dog - first beaten and then very clingy, cheerful, and loyal. He did interesting things with body posture and so-forth.
2. Morgan Freeman exudes fatherliness, avuncularity, and warmth. He's also very tall. I suspect that both of those aspects led to his getting this part. If nothing else, he made Mr Li look short and fragile. He's also a convincing person to bond with.
3. Jet Li is a very graceful man. In most of the movies his fighting style shows that. That's one of the interesting things about Unleashed - when he fought it was very short and savage blows, and you saw the grace only when he leaped and dodged.
4. It was nice to see a perky skinny chick as the heroine. I liked her.
5. There Were No TVs. In any scene. Not even the bad guy was so crass as to have an idiot box in his lair. I can't help but feel there's a moral there...
6. I loved the production values and set-dressing. The colouring of the movie was lovely. There was comfortable clutter in one house and dank dark greys in the villain's lair, a woman singing in a shower, a little mouse scuttling across one of the frames... there was a lot of attention to detail from the movie-makers.
7. It's odd how many violent movies are mushily sentimental, and how many action heroes will, at some point in their lives, make a movie in which they play a character with a very vulnerable side: Jean Claude van Damme in Replicant, all those warm fuzzy movies of Arnold Schwarzenegger's, even the scene in The Saint where the hero gets dunked in an ice-covered river and goes spoggly with hypothermia for a while. I think it's King Kong Syndrome, myself.
posted by theamazingcatherine | 7:18 pm
5 Comments:
Just got back from seeing it tonight.
It was... good
There are aspects of it I'm still processing, but (and?) it was good.
The *only* thing that I'd complain about is their lousy sense of geography and/or accents.
In the supermarket, Mr Freeman says something about the checkout woman 'running the best supermarket in Glasgow' Every *single* non-american (or Chinese) accent in there is pure English. Possibly pure London. Some are East End. Some are Toff. But *none* of them are Glaswegian, damnit.
So I'm thinking the film's not going to get too much play north of Hadrian's wall...
With such adulation I am now inspired to watch it.
Having spent over an hour watching 'Dooms' suspense and special effect explosions, I could do with some quality viewing.
Not saying that I did not enjoy the bright explosions and acting by New Zealand’s own Karl Urban and the ever lovely Rosamund Pike (a.k.a Miranda Frost). But a little grace and atmosphere is always appreciated.
Mike
Gratuitously brutal, gratifying scenery and a graceful symphony of martial arts, wire fu and Mozart that sadly came to an end as all good tales do.
Umm, Just wondering what you term as the King Kong Syndrome?
Mike
King Kong Syndrome: Big strong monster dude becoming gentle, tender, and vulnerable in the presence of a little kitten - or a sweet young girl, for that matter.
(My def.)
I'd actually thought that it was set in some part of London (hadn't noticed the supermarket comment).
In agreement, good tales include an element of character sensitivity. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu was tamed by Shamhat. Maybe tamed is not a fair choice of words, but she at least started the process of domesticating him. Even Gilgamesh had a reluctance to kill Humbaba.
Mike
Post a Comment
<< Home