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70
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67
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65
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64
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63
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63
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61
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60
Traitor
59
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58
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58
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58
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57
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57
Body of Lies
57
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57
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
57
Flash of Genius
56
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56
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56
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55
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54
Get Smart
53
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53
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53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Sex Drive
49
Family That Preys, The
49
Soul Men
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
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45
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45
Pride and Glory
43
Eagle Eye
43
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43
Death Race
41
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39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
31
Max Payne
28
Haunting of Molly Hartley. The
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
19
Saw V
15
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15
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75
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74
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69
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66
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64
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
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61
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61
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57
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56
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55
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55
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54
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53
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52
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52
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49
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47
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47
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46
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45
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43
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40
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40
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32
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30
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26
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Unleashed
Focus Features
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for strong violent content, language and some sexuality/nudity
Starring
Jet Li,
Morgan Freeman,
Bob Hoskins,
Kerry Condon,
Andy Beckwith,
Christian Gazio,
Michael Jenn,
and
Carole Ann Wilson
On and beneath the meanest streets of Glasgow, fiery gangster Bart (Hoskins) is merciless with debtors, would-be rivals, and anyone else to whom he even takes a passing dislike. How does Bart maintain his chokehold? Through his unwitting enforcer Danny (Li), who he has "raised" since boyhood. (Rogue Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Drama
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Luc Besson
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Louis Leterrier
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 11, 2005
Video: October 11, 2005
Theatrical: May 13, 2005
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
103 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
France / USA / UK / Hong Kong |
Also known as "Danny the Dog"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
91
Entertainment Weekly
Gregory Kirschling
Bounding out of the gate like a greyhound, Unleashed needs only its first 30 seconds or so to elevate itself well above the average action potboiler.

80
Film Threat
Michael Ferraro
One of the best Sunday Afternoon action flicks since the glory days of Schwarzenegger.

80
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
The most enjoyable film Besson has had his name on in eons.

80
Chicago Reader
Andrea Gronvall
Pierre Morel's diving, spiraling camera keeps pace with Yuen Wo-ping's rapid-fire fight choreography, all smartly directed by Louis Leterrier.

75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
The simple, unpretentious storytelling of Unleashed is a rarity in the glut of underwritten and overproduced action films that dominate American screens today.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
Ingenious in its construction.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
When Danny takes off his collar for the last time, Besson's plan becomes clear: You may have paid for an hour and a half of escapist entertainment, but he just provided something much better.

70
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
The infinitely silly, unconscionably entertaining action film Unleashed earns most of its juice from the martial-arts star Jet Li.

70
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Pathos isn't a cheap gimmick when it comes from the soul, and Li knows how to channel it, through his brain, his limbs and his heart.

70
The Hollywood Reporter
John DeFore
An action picture with the emotional simplicity of a bedtime story, painted in the grimy colors of the London underworld.

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Besson doesn't need dialogue to convey his worlds' nuances, because there are none, especially in Unleashed, which achieves such a sustained pitch of hysteria that it makes past masters of melodrama like Douglas Sirk, John Woo, and Sam Fuller look positively austere by comparison.

67
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Unleashed suffers from a surfeit of sentimentality at times (blame Besson for that), but it's Li's first major Western role of any depth and he acquits himself admirably as both mad dog and melancholy master.

63
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
While Bresson's insistence on juxtaposing brute force with sublime grace isn't subtle, it is effective.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
The film contains enough quiet, reflective moments for us to become aware how preposterous the central conceit is, and that keeps us at arm's length.

63
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Li is action poetry in motion. Damn them for spoiling our popcorn fun with salty tear-jerking.

63
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
A preposterous mix of sentiment and brutality that casts martial-arts star Jet Li as a music-loving killing machine, turns out to be his most entertaining movie in quite some time.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Unleashed serves two masters, each one disappointingly: It's a brutal series of over-amped fights, and it's a touching story of human nature at war with itself.

63
USA Today
Mike Clark
Ultimately, the movie doesn't make it, but there's enough going on to make it more arf than barf.

60
Variety
Lisa Nesselson
Slick transitions and punchy pace leave just enough time for Hopkins and Freeman to make dopey dialogue sound far smarter than it is. And as both pit bull and puppy dog, Jet Li convinces.

50
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Doing nothing special, Freeman manages to make the picture seem wiser, funnier, and more eloquent than it is.

50
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
The movie never recovers from its cheesy center.

50
Dallas Observer
Luke Y. Thompson
Only Kerry Condon, as Freeman's geeky adopted daughter, plays anything approaching a realistic character.

50
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The film's bizarreness pales next to that of little-known exploitation film "Sonny Boy" (1990), which weaves similar material into something authentically nightmarish.

50
Washington Post
Richard Harrington
A little less conversation, a lot more action, please.

50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
In its defence, the movie means to incorporate Jet's conversion into its theme, serving up his new pacifism as a choice morsel of irony. But it doesn't taste ironic, just bland, and we aren't biting either.

50
Chicago Tribune
Allison Benedikt
Unleashed is like an old dog: No new tricks.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
David Hiltbrand
Freeman and Hoskins lend the film a level of artistry it doesn't really deserve. Unleashed has a vivid concept, but savagery and sentimentality make strange costars.

40
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
Includes a few scenes of impressively choreographed mayhem, but they're all but buried in Freeman and Condon's mystical grandpa and weirdo teeny bopper routines.

40
Empire
Olly Richards
A promising idea that never develops beyond that.

25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Luc Besson's screenplay is dumb, but has just enough weird touches to give occasional glimmers of interest.

10
Village Voice
Benjamin Strong
Cloying dreck.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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