Unleashed / Danny the Dog is a must-watch Jet Li film! It's written by Luc Besson and stars Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins with incredibly vicious fight choreography by the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping.
Right. "Unleashed / Danny the Dog" is IMO his best non-Hong Kong movie by far. It has top notch fighting/action, but on top of that, it has a great, touching story, it has great cinematography, a A-tier cast, and Jet Li himself delivers one of if not his best "real acting" performances.
@@LeviBoldock True, "Kiss of the Dragon" is a real good one. Though for some reason I think I like "Romeo must Die" second best of this "western made movies". Maybe because of the mix of cultures, even though "Brother" by Takashi Kitano is even better in that regards.
Yes, Fearless is a good one, too. From his early to mid period, I think "Fist of Legend" is standing out as a prime example of this mor "classic" Kung-Fu movies. And sure, "Hero" is a must watch for everyone who loves cinema.
'Hero' is great, but one of my favourite Jet Li movies is 'Unleashed (2005)' which lets Jet Li flex his acting chops a little bit but also has some great martial arts. Also it has Morgan Freeman in it, what more could you want?
If you like Fist of Legend, I would _highly_ recommend Twin Warriors. It stars the same two main actors and it's a *ton* of fun! Fist of Legend is far superior, though.
Fist of legend one of my all time fav old school king fu movies 🔥 first time watching it I’m thinking nobody beating this dude in a fight Bruce lee Jackie Chan or whoever lol
@@CheesiestCheesehead It actually came out in the same year as Drunken Master 2. That was a time when people really craved Jet & Jackie to star in the same Hong Kong movie. Unfortunately, they ended up w/ a late 2000s Hollywood flick instead.
@@jp3813 right that jet li Jackie movie was trash imo but 🤷🏾♂️ fist of legend was hard af. The end fight scene with the general 🔥 one of the coldest ever.
The one trivia The scenes involving Jet Li fighting himself were shot using Li and a stuntman with a build similar to his. The stuntman's face was painted green so that it could be digitally replaced with Li's face later. For the martial arts aficionados: Jet Li uses two distinct kung fu styles when portraying Gabe and Yulaw. The evil Yulaw uses Xingyi Quan, or "Mind-Form Fist" (loosely translated). As can be seen when he is training, it is a very linear, offensive style. Gabe on the other hand practices Bagua Zhang, or the "Eight Trigrams Palm". It is characterized by open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are two of the three main "internal" styles of Chinese kung fu - the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi). The 'University Medical Center' where Gabe goes for the MRI is the North Hollywood Medical Center where the popular sitcom Scrubs (2001) is filmed. During the shootout at the beginning of the film, the LAPD officers in the Anubis Universe are all armed with M4A1 carbine assault rifles fitted with the M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. At the time of filming, the M26 was an experimental shotgun being developed for the United States Army by C-More Systems, and it was not available to the public. The M26s used in the film were prototype versions loaned to the production by C-More Systems, under a promotional agreement; they were later returned to the company after filming was completed. The scene in which Yulaw is practicing his Xingyi while shackled and jailed is a reference to the famous Xingyi master Kuo Yun Shen who did the same thing when he was jailed. When Dwayne Johnson ('The Rock') was attached to star, this film was known as The Rock Movie. When he left to work on The Mummy Returns (2001), it was listed for a short while as Untitled Sci-Fi Project, and when Jet Li came aboard, it became The One. When Gabe's wife is introduced when she's getting ready to see if Gabe is alright after being attacked, the background sound of the TV is heard playing Final Destination (2000), one of James Wong's and Glen Morgan's earlier films. When Yulaw changes the radio station, the 4th song is Sinner by Drowning Pool. However, in the Asian release of the film, it was replaced by Linkin Park's Forgotten. Jason Statham and Jet Li would both later appear together in War (2007), The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), and The Expendables 3 (2014). James Wong and Glen Morgan wanted Shirley Walker to score the film, but Revolution Studios insisted that they hire Trevor Rabin instead. Some characters have the last names of movie directors: Woo, Scott, Yates, Siegel, Besson. The song that was played just before the End Credits Rolled was Censored When Yulaw first attacks Gabe in the L.A.P.D. Parking garage, Yulaw flees after reinforcements arrive. When they do Gabe yells, "HE'S GOING O.J.!" (i.e., "He's on the run!") This is a reference to Orenthal James Simpson's (O.J.) career as a running back in the NFL. (And a somewhat ironic quip due to Simpson's murder trial, considering that Yulaw had just escaped from his own.) Filmed in 2001 but supposedly set well into Earth's future, in the first Earth-universe scene at the Earth-prison (about 20 minutes into the movie), just before Law attacks the prison guards transferring a prisoner, a prison TV airs a news channel reporting this Earth's US Gov't is likely to enact "Universal Health Care" for its citizens . . . little did the movie's producers know that in just nine years, the Barack Obama Administration would pass the Affordable Care Act. This is the only trivia I could find by the way Kiss of the dragon in my opinion is my favourite Jet Li film
I would absolutely recommend _Romeo Must Die._ It was his first starring role in the US and it blew everyone's minds in 7th grade. _Everyone_ was talking about it at the playground. Granted, it's a product of the time, my time, so I may not be able to separate my nostalgia. (Yes, I'm old).
Jet Li action movies were so awesome back in the early 2000s. This is one of my favorites but I think "Kiss of the Dragon" is at the top of my list. I love to bullet time sequence when he kills his other self in the beginning. he tore those guards up. "LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR!'
10:02 Law's kung fu style is Bagua (moving in circles), while Yulaw's is Xingyi (moving in straight lines). The former is the same style used by the air nomads in Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.
For an great Jet Li-Film, check out „Hero“ from 2002. As for Wong, his directing career came to a complete stop in 2008 when he helmed the *horrible* „Dragonball Evolution“. Compared to that flick, „The One“ looks like Kubrick.
10:00 this is a cool scene that really highlights the differences in the mentalities of the two Laws. Yu's martial art style is aggressive and direct whereas Gabe's is calm and flows.
You'll also note that the music changes depending on who is ascendant at the moment. It's not just their martial style, but the mood each version exudes. Gabe's martial art and music is calm, flowing, peaceful, while Yu's is aggressive, violent, even cruel at times.
I completely love _The One_ - and all your criticisms are accurate haha. I'm surprised you felt like you heard a lot about it as a kid, because I think it was pretty immediately dismissed as a much less compelling _Matrix_ ripoff with the slow motion superpowered guy, and Jet Li fans hated it because it didn't show off his skills and choreography enough, as you say. But...personally, I love the crazy wormhole effect, the multiverse stuff really sparked my imagination at that time, Roedecker was badass, and the TK-Law connection was very cute despite prioritizing the fast pacing over real development. I'm almost surprised anyone reacted to it 😂 I hope you saw _Hero_ since this video, it's all-time. (I also love _Romeo Must Die_ but it is also quite silly - perhaps a little tighter quality wise but also cheesier tone.)
Romeo Must Die is a amazing movie! I do enjoy The One, even with its flaws. Just a fun concept. I owned it on DVD for a long time. But eventually I got bored of it. It could have been so much better. Sadly also with Romeo Must Die, the lead actress (who was also a singer) died in a plane crash not long after the movie came out. Real tragedy. She had such a big future ahead of her in singing and acting.
I remember Jet Li's breakout American cinema role as one of the villains in Lethal Weapon 4. But, one of his all time best films, as far as martial arts and action, is KISS OF THE DRAGON, which may actually be an international film, as it is based in Paris. Some of the best martial arts scenes are in that film.
"I will be the one." Fun Fact: Dwayne Johnson was attached to star, but left to work on The Mummy Returns (2001) instead. Location Location Fact: The "University Medical Center" where Gabe goes for the MRI is the North Hollywood Medical Center where the popular sitcom Scrubs (2001) was filmed. Seeing Double Fact: The scenes involving Jet Li fighting himself were shot using Li and a stuntman with a build similar to his. The stuntman's face was painted green so that it could be digitally replaced with Li's face later. Martial Arts Enthusiast: Jet Li uses two distinct kung fu styles when portraying Gabe and Yulaw. The evil Yulaw uses Xingyi Quan (Mind-Form Fist). As can be seen when he is training, it is a very linear, offensive style. Gabe on the other hand practices Bagua Zhang (Eight Trigrams Palm). It is characterized by open palm fighting, with circular footwork. Both styles are two of the three main "internal" styles of Chinese kung fu, the third being Taiji Quan (Tai Chi).
In books Robert Heinlein wrote about the multiverse in the 1950s, you should read him sometime he is the master of science fiction and many of these movies and TV shows are based on his works 👍 thanks for all your wonderful reactions 🍿
10:15 A martial arts friend once explained to me the two different fighting styles on display here by the two versions of Jet Li. The circular one used by the good Law is supposed to be more defensive oriented, reacting to attacks. Whereas the straight line style used by the other Law is far more suited for highly aggressive fighters.
well, if you watched the og star trek series, you would of seen that those two concepts were introduced there in multiple episodes in the 60's .. (also tl zone and outer limits to a certain extent)
Pretty awesome that you reacted to this one! It's kind of an odd little movie with a cool concept (Multiple versions of you sharing energy and becoming stronger the less there are). Plus y'know, anything with Carla Gugino in it is an immediate watch for me, lol. As other people have said, DEFINITELY check out Unleashed (Danny the Dog in the UK, I believe). It's probably my favorite Jet Li movie, and I think you'd REALLY enjoy the story and acting in that one. Also: Damn, Dean Norris is like THE "cop" typecast, lol. I never really noticed him until Breaking Bad, but going back on all these older movies, he's in so freakin' many of them it's insane. And he's almost always a cop, lol.
Dean Norris is a cop in everything lol Except Fantastic 4. But he also played the SWAT leader in Terminator 2 When they run up on Dyson before he blows the building up.
Once Upon a Time in China (6 movies but Jet Li only starred in I-III and Once Upon a Time in China and America which was the sixth movie) Hero (2002) is also amazing. Oh, Fist of Legend as well.
I might be wrong, but I thought all of the remaining versions of "Law" each gained some power each time one of their alternates was killed. To me, this explains why/how Gabe got stronger without killing any versions of himself.
Fist of Legend is his best film IMO. Hong Kong film industry knows how to produce fight scenes. Would love to see a reaction if you’re into Kung fu films.
Fun fact: the mortician that faints is Mark Borchardt. He’s a filmmaker from Milwaukee and was featured in a documentary called “American Movie” about his path as an independent filmmaker. Fantastic movie about a really quirky guy.
In the director's commentary on the DVD, after Yulaw shoots Gabe's wife, he shoots the family dog on the way out. Test audiences complained about the dog being shot but not about Gabe's wife being shot! I don't remember if they cut that scene before release.
Hahaha I missed that note. (I think I might've had this on DVD? Or maybe even I had too much shame for that :P) I dunno I do think harming animals, children, or mentally compromised people is more psychopathic than killing adults. I know rationally the "value" of an animal life is not as great as an adult human, but in terms of being a threat to you, or the ability to have any grudge or conflict with you, they are innocent. TK pointed a gun at him and is his enemy's wife, that's unfortunately enough for him. The dog is a dog. No need to kill the dog!
I'm happy to find your channel man this was great not many people have reacted to this movie so great choice I would love to see your reaction to something like synchronicity which is good watch or even predestination.
'Lethal Weapon 4' is my favorite Jet Li film. 'Kiss Of The Dragon' is my 2nd. I watched 'The One' in the theatre and saw it a couple times since and still enjoy for what it is.
I was laughing he was several times asking "is that Papa Roach?" and I just thought "well I know there's at least one scene you will DEFINITELY recognize Papa Roach."
My favourite jet li films include fearless, hero, once upon a time in China 1 and 2 and fist of legend which is a remake of Bruce Lee's fist of fury. A remake that could be argued to be better than the original. This one I have to say really wasn't great for me.
Fun fact. They wanted The Rock for this movie but he had already agreed to make The Scorpion King. Crazy to imagine this movie with The Rock! Crazy fun!
scariest person to face in combat would be Jet Li using drunken sword....... So unpredictable and Jet Li is like a master in that fight style, or he was?
The concept of the multiverse has been around for a long while, now. It's just Marvel and companies wanting to mix their IP's together have made it popular in the public eye, recently Unleashed/Danny The Dog is one of my favorite Jet Li films. Great acting, interesting story, brutal and well choreographed fights. Also, if you wanna check out some lesser known martial arts flicks, check out Undisputed II: Last Man Standing. It stars Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins. Scott, is mainly a stuntman (you're probly most familiar with him as the guy Dr Strange has the "ghost fight" with in the first Dr Strange movie), but he's fucking amazing, and I have NO idea why his career hasn't taken off to more staring roles. He has the skills and the acting chops for it. He also has a stuntman role in Unleashed/Danny The Dog, which made me think of him.
not sure if this has been said already, forgive me if it has. but interesting fact, this was originally wrote with dwayne the rock johnson as the lead. but he was already doing scorpion king, so they turned to Jet Li and of course had to rewrite the fight scenes since the rock is a brawler and Jet is a martial artist. I would have liked to see what the rock would have brought to this, but I think the fight scenes at super speed, the martial arts looks better. the brawling would have looked to silly in my opinion.
kiss of the dragon ,cradle 2 da grave, romeo must die are some good ones in addition to ones like hero, unleashed, fearless. unleased probably had the best acting and action combo.
By the way, the worst thing about this scene, or perhaps the best thing, is the group of men is still looking down at him as if her were still on the ground, even though he had already gotten up and started walking up the stairs. LOL!
Jet Li designed the martial arts used by his characters to reflect their personality; Yulaw is all lines and straight ahead force, while Gabe Law is circular, moving around his opponent to maximize Gabe's defense while minimizing theirs... Jet Li stated it better, sorry. It's a great movie, when you're 16...
Jet's movies are extremely hot or miss. He's got some absolute classics in there...and also some not, classics... Hero is often considered one of his best (I disagree...), But a lot of people like it. For myself, Fist of Legend is far and away his best film. I adore it. The Master is another one worth checking out. It's not his best, but it was the first film to attempt to break him into the American film landscape. The Once Upon a time In China films are also really good.
Yeah, not only did it not age well it didn't do super well back when it came out either. If I remember it was supposed to be Jet Li's answer to The Matrix. God I forgot how early 2000s the sound track was. Also if you're into early multiverse check out the TV show Sliders. A whole TV series with multiple years on the air centered around being lost in the multiverse.
Forbidden Kingdom (2008) is an underrated movie that better utilized Jet Li and the new Mulan actress, Liu Yifei, than Mulan (2020). If you haven't watched it though, I recommend Fearless or Once Upon A Time In China.
The effects in this movie always just made me so happy. Sure, Matrix came out before this and had state of the art effects. But this movie just is special to me. The multiverse, Jet Li...etc. It was also my big Jet Li phase. Before Jet I was heavily into Jackie Chan. After Jet I got back into Chan again. Both actors were good friends, but also briefly had some big issues with each other. If I recall, a lot of it had to do with Chinas laws at the time. Hence Chan went back to China to make movies. He also couldn't stand how American movies were made.
I mean Chan's the one who made multiple Rush Hour sequels, and two Shanghai Noon entries, several others... It seemed like Jet Li's flirtation with Hollywood was sporadic at best. Then again I didn't follow either of their Chinese careers particularly so maybe you're right Chan recommitted to the homeland more than Li did.
Great reaction! I've loved this movie and I don't know how many times I've watched it, but I agree with a lot of your points. If you haven't seen "Gone in 60 Seconds", I think that would be a great movie to react to. A lot of stars and recognizable faces, with Nicolas Cage at the lead.
When it came out The One was refreshing because every. single. freaking. action. movie. was trying to do matrix slo-mo with mundane humans in a mundane universe where it made no sense. And at least in The One it was justified. And the concept was cool. Aside from that yeah it doesn't have much going for it.
This movie is 2001 in a nutshell, from the soundtrack to the effect, and the trying to copy Matrix stuff. Jet Li getting lead roles in B grade action (Kiss of the Dragon was his other movie this year, and i think much better action wise) and Jason Statham as a sidekick (he had pretty much the same role in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars) Jet Li's first big US movie was Lethal Weapon 4. US film crews had a hard time filming the action because he is so much faster than they're used to and i think that shows here. This was originally written with the Rock in mind, but Rock had only done Mummy Returns and wasn't a big star yet. The director and writer had started off on x-files and that's how they got shots at making movies and shows.
This is at the start of the video. I absolutely love this ridiculous movie. It is nothing but fun and it goes from beginning to end. I have a feeling you're going to really enjoy this. Let's see if I'm right.
I love Jet Li, I am watching this reaction on my laptop while my brother is watching Kiss of the Dragon in the living room TV. I recommend Tai Chi Master if anyone wants to watch his old Hong Kong stuff.
'Hero' is spectacular. A must watch... among the martial arts movies I've watched (dozens) it is only surpassed by 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. And that, not by much.
Wow. I think we have a difference in view. I think The One is a better-than-good movie. I can agree with you on some things. The editing is definitely choppy in places, so it would be safe to say why you have an issue with the exposition. The scenes that are choppy with the action, it would make sense due to how the stunts were done. A lot of the stuff like the long jumping over objects, for example used a lot of wire work. Also at that time, Jason Stathan wasn't known for his martial arts ability as he was building it up. James Wong's major accomplishment more so than the movie Final Destination was the TV series the X-Files. He had more experience shooting TV shows, which is different from movies. So, I don't hold that against him because the X-Files was one of my favorite shows to watch back then in the late 90s. There was a website tie-in to the movie. It was in the form of being a website for the MVA/MultiVerse Agency. It had information on the history of the agency, how the parallel universe wormhole travel technology was create, and members of the MVA. There was also information on other fugitives in the Multiverse besides Yu Law. Like in the universe with Gabe, the guy in the cell Ronnie Gabe talks to who they are escorting, his doppelganger in the universe Yu Law comes from is a stone cold killer. Ronnie in the Gabe universe was supposed to a witness in a trial against the criminals he got mixed up in. It was an interesting interpretation of the scene with Gabe and Fitch driving along and Gabe was saying that his wife TK was made his circle whole. I respect your interpretation, because it's a good one. But, I don't think that is what Gabe meant as TK being his moral center. It ties into the martial art that he uses, Pa Kua/Bagua. It's a Chinese martial art that emphasizes circular movements and techniques.The scene when he comes home from the hospital and clears his mind before he and TK go back the hospital, what he was doing is called circle walking. The Yin & Yang philosophy is a fundamental part of Bagua. TK was the Yin to Gabe's Yang. Lethal Weapon 4 was Jet Li's first American movie. His best, non-Western movies are the movies he's done in China, the pre-Lethal Weapon 4 movies. Legends of The Red Dragon/Legend of New Shaolin. Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2. The Wong Fai Hung movies he's done. Fearless. Martial Arts of Shaolin.
