Unleashed
Directed by Louis Leterrier.
Starring Jet Li, Bob Hoskins.
This movie stars Jet Li as Danny and Bob Hoskins as his master ‘Uncle’ Bart, we also see the acting talents of Morgan Freeman as Sam, a blind piano tuner and his adopted daughter Victoria, played by Kerry Condon.
The premise for this movie is one of subjugation and freedom. Written by Luc Besson (Fifth Element, The Professional, Kiss of the Dragon, et al.) this story comes out well rounded, as Hollywood movies go. I can’t say that this movie didn’t have some clichéd parts, nor that it wasn’t predictable at times, but even with this in mind, the movie was quite enjoyable.
The movie opens with a green/grey filter, and we see Danny and Bart walk into many a building where the same thing is iterated; “If you pay, the collar stays on, if you don’t, the collar comes off.” Needless to say one such person decides that collar off is still a viable option; he soon changes his mind once Danny gets stuck into them, but only after his collar comes off and his Master says “get ’em.”
If you are wondering what the collar has to do with anything, then let me put your mind at ease. The collar is a way of controlling Danny, why? Because he has been trained to be a dog (hence the American title ‘Danny the Dog’), he is beaten and treated unkindly, he lives in a cage and only does what his ‘Uncle’ Bart tells him too.
Where does the premise of freedom come into it you ask, well after a few exhibitions of his ‘collar off’ we arrive at a warehouse of antiques (trivia: the doors say “we buy garbage, we sell Antiques.”) Danny is given a simple task of watching a light, if it blinks he is to run in and help his master. Needless to say Danny gets sidetracked and here we meet Morgan Freeman (Sam) as he turns a piano and enlists the help of Danny. This is the beginning of his move to freedom, where he learns to be a ‘human.’
I thought that Jet Li did some great acting within this movie, his fight scenes were fast and brutal, not as stylized as his usual movies, but most importantly when Danny starts to learn what it means to be a human, via the help of Victoria and Sam, there are some great scenes where Jet Li is learning, He does the best ‘puppy dog eyes’ I have seen in ages and manages to bring across a lost innocence as his character needs.
I recommend this to most Martial Arts movie fans, Jet Li fans and even Comedy fans. Though there is quite a lot of action within this movie, there is also as much comedy here too, many a laugh can be had at some very simple things. To sum up ‘man makes dog, dog bites men, dog flees man, dog finds family, man finds dog, dog fights for new family.’ An enjoyable evening out.
Alex Massy-Gartly
