Who Let That Dog Out?

After watching the Sonics whoop up on the Spurs to even the series tonight, I decided to walk downtown and go see "Unleashed".

I must admit I had been harboring the guilty pleasure of looking forward to see this film, and for reasons which are not terribly clear.

Honestly, I do like the idea of hand-to-hand fighting in movies. Part of my eighth grade testosterone self has never gotten completely tired of a couple of bad asses duking it out. Its fun to watch talented people of jujitsu (such as Jet Li) do their thing. But with an abundance of crappy movies featuring mindless karate for the sake of karate, the trick becomes to tie those flying fists to something important and endearing and still pull off some bitching fight scenes (and in the process, interest the audience in the outcome of the fight and not just in the fight display itself). I thought, I guess, that "Unleashed" had the potential to do this.

And I'm glad to say that it did. While it does not play on the same level that the the-more-I-think-about-the-more-I-realize-I-really-really-liked-it "Kung Fu Hustle" (see last post) does, its still a very watchable film with some definite high points and uniqueness to it.

Thanks to Luc Besson (of "The Professional" fame), the film is actually a film and not just some karate movie. Its quite artfully done and has a killer soundtrack courtesy mostly of Massive Attack. And though there is definitely a stretched suspension of disbelief (this man has the mentality of a dog for this long?!) and some minor other flaws, the film as a whole succeeds. The fight scenes are very well done in that they: 1) employ cool and believable moves (anyone else here sick of blatant and ridiculous wire use?) and 2) incorporate a savagery often missing from the more routine, overly-choreographed and ballet-like scenes from other movies (i.e. people appear to be actually fighting). And perhaps most important of all, I actually cared about what happened to old Jet. By the end of the movie, I was rooting so hard for him to literally bash the crap out of his tormenters and enemies that I could hardly stand it. And though that last sentence sounds twisted, it also explains why the movie works.

If you're so inclined, I definitely recommend checking it out.

( just not before "Kung Fu Hustle.")

Back to work and ICU call tomorrow - lame.

And after that, my life focuses on Star Wars - the final chapter. I'm really looking forward to it. Through this final film I'm giving Lucas an almost Vader-like choice on how to be summarily viewed in my eyes. It all hinges on "Sith". He can continue this epic fall from grace, have "Sith" suck, and take this prequel trilogy forever to the dark side. Or, he can take one last deep look inside, pump out a movie that plays to its near limitless euphoric potential, and save the saga forever and be redeemed. The decision is his. Bring it Lucas!