Purely Joyful Movie!

Don't Believe the Hype

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Firstly, I am not usually a fan of Jet Li films. I find the background music in his productions irritating and the fight scenes hokey. But I decided to give this one a try as I was curious why Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins would be in one of his films. I was completely surprised!!!! As others have mentioned, this film This film can stand on its own as a good piece of drama. At times, you could sense that the old paradigm for Li movies was being restrained, but it would quickly return back to the hopefully new direction for his career, with great writing and acting.If you are a dyed in the wool Jet Li fan, you might not like this one. But if you are simply a movie fan, this is an excellent and surprisingly good movie. I highly recommend.

Bart (Bob Hoskins) is a vicious loan shark. He has trained Danny (Jet Li) as his personal attack dog. When people don't pay, he takes off Danny's collar which sends him into attack mode. Danny is befriended by blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman). When someone pump bullets into Bart's car, Danny escapes and finds refuge with Sam and his step-daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon). Danny learns to be human from them but Bart comes back into his life.I love the idea of Danny the dog and his collar. There are lots of great Jet Li fight action. He does well enough with the acting. It helps that his character is still learning to speak. I actually would prefer he speaks less in this movie. Also I'm not sure if they are trying to make Victoria the romantic companion. At 18, her character is a little young. It would have been better if she's in her 20s. It's a pretty good action movie with an intriguing premise.

In Glasgow, martial arts fighter Jet Li (as Danny) has been raised doggie-style by gangster Bob Hoskins (as Bart). When he has his collar on, Mr. Li is fairly docile - but when Mr. Hoskins takes the collar off, Li crunches bones and pounds heads. Looking a little like Ray Charles with a mustache, friendly Morgan Freeman (as Sam) arrives on the scene. A blind piano tuner, Mr. Freeman sees Li for the gentle soul that he really is, deep down. Ahh... Freeman has a step-daughter Kerry Condon (as Victoria Mills)...Freeman and Ms. Condon teach Li how to play the piano and be nice. At first, she has a scary metal smile, but Ms. Condon becomes kissable sweet after the "hardware" is removed and she shows Li how to lick vanilla ice cream. All goes well until Hoskins re-enters the picture. He wants Li to return to fighting for revenge and profit, and won't take "no" for an answer. An interesting debate can be made about how the film character rejects being paid to fight violently, when Li acting violent is what viewers pay to see.***** Danny the Dog/ Unleashed (2/2/05) Louis Leterrier ~ Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Kerry Condon

Danny has spent his entire life in a cage, the only time he leaves is when his services are called upon by his boss. Danny is very good at one particular thing....fighting. But, Danny escapes one day and finds a family and relinquishes violence...however his old family arrive to take him back at any cost...Now Danny must apply everything he has ever learnt to protect the ones he loves.I am not a big Jet Li fan, more of a Donnie Yen fanatic and Jet Li's style has never connected with me, until I watched Unleashed. Unleashed combines great story-telling, with wonderful characters and sublime fight scenes in between and with actors such as Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins supporting Jet Li, the movie does not disappoint.The fight scenes are just brilliant, I could talk forever about them. The camera-work could be better, but Jet Li's speed perhaps makes it harder for anyone to follow. Overall this could be classified as a Kung-Fu movie, but its a drama at its core.