Unleashed (HD DVD)

So, I skipped Unleashed in theaters at Laremy's recommendation. I then skipped reviewing the Unrated DVD as I still had the nasty taste of Laremy's theatrical review in my mouth. Then Universal goes and sends me the HD DVD/DVD combo disc and I began to think that I better watch this movie or it is going to haunt me forever.

Please excuse me if I reference Laremy's review throughout this review, but it really does tell it all. Before I get into that let me give you a quick rundown.

Jet Li plays Danny. Danny is raised as a dog by Bart (Bob Hoskins). Bart is a ruthless crime boss that has trained Danny to beat up/kill people. One day Danny gets away, Bart is assumed dead and Danny finds refuge with Sam (Morgan Freeman), a blind man and his adopted daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon).

Danny is little to no social skills and is strangely attracted to the sounds of piano. Guess what, Victoria is a whiz on the piano and Sam fixes the damn things! Talk about luck. The movie goes on from there as Danny tries to become a real boy in this Pinocchio replica gone bad.

Now, for that Laremy reference. His quick opinion on the film says it all:

Let's assume there is a world where kind families take in strange dog like men who show up bleeding at their door. Let's stay on that track and assume these families generally are made up of blind men and precocious young women who play piano at a world class level, and just for giggles let's take it one step further and figure that these people would grow to love our hero, and train him to be a real boy. Once you've accepted all that, can you also take a bad actor in the female slot? One who has cringe worthy dialogue throughout? One who isn't near attractive enough to make you forget she's butchering the movie?

That is exactly how I felt while watching this film. It is a rough watch and if it wasn't for some cool fight scenes, which get insanely out of control (not in a good way), then this movie would be a total bust. It is just shy of "F" quality.

As for the HD DVD/DVD I am still yet to figure out why studios put out these combo discs and then throw the special features on the DVD side only. That is a pain in the ass people! Stop it!

Nevertheless, the HD side looks and sounds amazing. This is a dark movie and the blacks come off very well. If there is one shining moment in this film it would be the music, which is performed by The RZA and Massive Attack and there are a couple of music videos on the DVD side if you are into that kind of thing. However, if you buy this disc you are going against all my recommendations and probably will hate the music so why even try?

Skip Unleashed, it is a waste of an hour and 42 minutes. Not even fantastic video and audio can help this movie.