A bleary-eyed gangster film which combines the misguided talents of Jet Li, Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman. Does it work? Well… not really, as Ben Johnson discovers.
Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment Format: Region 2 (PAL) Length: 97 min. Aspect Ratio: Widescreen (2.35:1) Audio: English Subtitles: English, Spanish, French Extras: The Making Of Unleashed, The Making Of SFX, Cut Scenes, Outtakes, Music Video RZA Baby Boy Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Year of Release: 2005; Origin: France/United States/United Kingdom; Studio: Europa Corp.
Director: Louis Leterrier; Producer: Luc Besson, Steve Chasman, Jet Li Lian-jie; Script: Luc Besson; Action Director: Yuen Woo-ping; Cast: Jet Li, Bob Hoskins, Morgan Freeman, Kerry Condon, Vincent Regan, Dylan Brown.
Alternative Titles: Danny the Dog (Hong Kong: English title)
Trailer: Click below to view the trailer for Unleashed
Plot synopsis
Present day, Glasgow : Tormented since birth, Danny (Jet Li) is the abused property of crime kingpin Uncle Bart (Hoskins), or the Guv’ner to his underlings, who keeps the boy locked up in a cage, feeding him tinned spaghetti and only releasing him to do his dirty work. When Danny’s collar is unleashed, the boy spirals into hate-fuelled kung fu action and decimates his foe in quite a brutal fashion. Utilising Danny’s money-spinning potential, Hoskins enrols his pet into an underground bare-knuckle death contest where rich people bet on marauding muscle heads to cave each other in, something that the unthinking, speechless, victimised Danny takes full advantage of.
Luckily, previous goons after Hoskins’ head smash a ten-tonne truck into the side of his car and riddle the passengers with bullets. Danny escapes with minor wounds and is taken in by cuddly, blind New York pensioner Sam (Freeman), who tunes pianos for a living and lives with his caring if slightly batty stepdaughter. This is where the film suddenly changes tune, as the trio make up a truly unconventional, multi-cultural family who start to teach Danny all-important life skills (mainly how to shop for melons, and how to eat ice cream) as well as make him question his past.
Just as Danny develops his human side, Hoskins turns up and throws him back in the ring and we’re back to the rain-soaked, green-tinted drum and bass of cockney Glasgow. In a slightly more subdued state, Danny finds himself biting back at his tormentors after discovering the true nature of his mother’s sudden disappearance, and from having no one all his life, he suddenly finds himself with two adopted families fighting for his protection.
Review
A bizarre film, and one that tries earnestly to match the brief of all three of its leading players. In the Jet Li corner, we have rich, excessive bouts of kung fu violence, orchestrated by the masterstrokes of martial genius Yuen Woo-ping. For Bob Hoskins fans (anyone?), we have a slightly silly, grimy cockney gangster tale, with plenty of Del-Boy charm and east end thuggary straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie. And for those who like to follow Morgan Freeman’s wasted talents (someone who often delivers way beyond the call of half the tripe he appears in), there’s a Shawshank-style sentimentality to the film’s wholesome second half, where Freeman’s dulcet tones transform the picture into something of a morality tale. All of this combines to create a very strange misshapen film that equally gains and suffers from starring three very different character actors all in the same movie.
However, it is nice to see a film revolve so intently around Jet Li, and an American film at that. Director Leterrier, clearly noticing that speaking was never Jet Li’s strong point, leaves Li’s fists to do much of the talking, playing his role of Danny ‘the Dog’ to humble, puppy-eyed perfection. When the sentimental moments are in full swing, it is possible to imagine a life outside of the kung fu realm for someone so typecast as Jet Li. He seems perfectly convincing delivering straight drama even if he doesn’t appear to do much, letting Freeman steer most of the scenes like Lawrence Olivier teaching an apprentice. He’ll clearly have to adapt if he does ever decide to stop making martial arts movies somewhere in the future, but these scenes proves that Li is not without hope.
A bizarre film, and one that tries earnestly to match the brief of all three of its leading players. In the Jet Li corner, we have rich, excessive bouts of kung fu violence, orchestrated by the masterstrokes of martial genius Yuen Woo-ping. For Bob Hoskins fans (anyone?), we have a slightly silly, grimy cockney gangster tale, with plenty of Del-Boy charm and east end thuggary straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie. And for those who like to follow Morgan Freeman’s wasted talents (someone who often delivers way beyond the call of half the tripe he appears in), there’s a Shawshank-style sentimentality to the film’s wholesome second half, where Freeman’s dulcet tones transform the picture into something of a morality tale. All of this combines to create a very strange misshapen film that equally gains and suffers from starring three very different character actors all in the same movie. 
(0 vote)
