Movie Haiku - Unleashed

www.unleashedmovie.com


Dir: Louis Leterrier


Cast: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Kerry Condon


He wears a collar

when it comes off he fights back

she buys him ice cream


Unleashed (aka: Danny The Dog) continues Jet Li's venture into Hollywood productions, but at least this time around he has a slightly more original set-up at his disposal. The screenplay (by Luc Besson) concerns Danny (Li) who's been kept like a dog - he wears a metal collar and sleeps in a cage - by gang leader Bart (Hoskins) since he was a small kid. It's the only life he's ever known. When Bart needs to teach someone a lesson off comes the collar and Danny goes to work with his fists and feet - he's also the main attraction at an undeground fight club where all the lowlife go to gamble. When Bart gets shot by a rival gang member, Danny escapes and ends up getting taken in by Sam (Freeman), a kindly blind American, and a young student, Victoria (Condon) who's been raised by Sam ever since her own parents died. They show Danny the kind of family love that he's been reglected, and slowly he begins to remember events from his past and exactly what happened between Bart and his mother, so ensuring a bloody climax as Bart arrives to take Danny back. It is quite a refreshing script, and benefits from being set in Glasgow rather than smalltown America - although I don't think I heard one Scottish accent, and since when have Scottish supermarkets used brown paper bags for packing shopping? Of course the whole surpressed memories coming back to reveal the truth of his childhood storyline is nothing new - there's no major twists here, but it's handled smartly nonetheless. If there's one flaw in the film then it's the "fight club" scenes, full of smartly dressed punters baying for blood and throwing assorted weapons into the arena. All movie cliche, zero reality. When Li is called to fight then the action is quick and brutal (this is an 18 certificate), and it's mainly all martial arts and wire-fighting rather than any stunt-based stuff. The standout scene comes from an intense fight in a tiny toilet cubicle which is really well done - both nasty and funny at the same time. It's also fun watching how many cars they manage to roll over on the streets of Glasgow - but watch out for the barge-board on the Range Rover! The acting is generally okay, with Hoskins in particular playing his role with relish. Freeman is usually good value, yet here seems miscast and seems far too adept and assured for someone who is supposed to be handicapped by blindness. Worth taking for a walk but won't become your best friend.

soulmining rating: ***