Susan Granger’s review of “Unleashed” (Rogue Pictures/Universal)
Forget about that “Kiss of the Dragon” fiasco. In their latest collaboration, martial-arts star Jet-Li and screenwriter Luc Besson have concocted a brutal-yet-thoughtful action thriller, directed by Louis Leterrier (“The Transporter”). Like “La Femme Nikita” and “The Professional,” this is a trained-to-be-a-killer tale. Mute and childlike Danny (Jet Li) lives in a subterranean dungeon with only a teddy bear and punching bag for company. Enslaved from childhood, he wears a collar because he has been trained to be an attack dog by Bart (Bob Hoskins), a ruthless Glasgow loan shark. Wearing the collar, Danny’s docile and curious. Unleashed, he’s feral and ferocious. One day when his “owner” is in a car accident and subsequent coma, Danny escapes and is taken in by a blind American piano tuner (Morgan Freeman) and his good-natured step-daughter (Kerry Condon), who introduce him to cooking and kindness, Mozart and vanilla ice cream. When, inevitably, the past collides with the present, the soul of this confused, simpleminded creature is caught between his savage urges and the softness of his higher aspirations. In France, this film was titled “Danny the Dog” since the fights, choreographed by Yuen Wo-Ping (“The Matrix”) are cruel and animalistic. But there’s a relevant theme couched within the bone-crunching carnage, touching on the futility of power and money when confronted with the needs of human nature. Because his character doesn’t speak much English, Li performs without language stress. As always, Freeman and Hoskins deliver credibility. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Unleashed” is an emotionally simplistic 7. But it’s not what you’d expect.
