Fridae

It's a great week for Chinese superstars!

If you're a fan of sports idol Yao Ming or action movie idol Jet
Li, or both, you'd be pleased to know that they are the stars of
two good movies this week, The Year of the Yao and Unleashed
respectively.

Of the two, Unleashed is the more exciting film simply
because it features the spectacular gongfu motions of Jet Li and
the action choreography of Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix, Kill
Bill).

Jet plays Danny, a young orphan who has been raised as a fighter
by a cruel loan shark (Bob Hoskins). Danny is kept in a cage and
made to wear a dog collar which, when unleashed, turns him into
a vicious attack dog.

But Danny longs to know what it is like to love and be loved. So
he escapes his cage and finds refuge with a blind man (Morgan Freeman),
whose daughter introduces Danny to the pleasures of ice-cream, classical
music and kissing. (Hmmm... we would have liked to teach Jet those
things too, right boys?)

Unleashed's plot is, no doubt, utterly ridiculous. But
it is also the sort of popcorn flick that you can thoroughly enjoy
if you know how to leave your brains at the door. Jet's fists of
fury and Wo-ping's fine choreography combine to make an excellent
action movie.

We highly recommend it to macho tops and beer-loving dykes.