Review: Unleashed (B-)

Unleashed (2005)
Directed by Louis Leterrier
Starring Jet Li, Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins
MPAA: PG-13
Grade: B-

Review by Bobby Nashville

The trailer for Unleashed was so bad that I came into it expecting the worst. Plus, the studio's publicity machine has continuously tried to sell Jet Li as the next big action star in America, and of course, that hasn't happened. Finally, to top it off, I'm not a huge martial arts nut to begin with. So I was pleasantly surprised to find Unleashed to be fairly interesting. And that's a compliment.

In Unleashed, Jet Li stars as Danny, an orphan raised to be killing machine by a ruthless crime organization led by Bart (Bob Hoskins). Bart makes Danny wear a metal collar that supposedly keeps him in check like a pit bull. When the collar comes off, Danny automatically becomes a rabid "dog" that uses martial arts to massacre his opponents.

Okay folks, the whole "human pitbull" concept is a stupid idea. However, if you can get past the dog collar bit, Unleashed is a pretty interesting little action flick. Danny meets up with Sam, a blind piano tuner (played by Morgan Freeman)and his teenage daughter. With the help of his new family, he discovers life's little joys like ice cream, kisses on the cheek and the music.

Morgan Freeman is one of those actors that is good in everything and he helps add some authenticity to Unleashed. The filmmakers wisely limit Jet Li's dialogue, so he actually works in this role. Bob Hoskins is always at his best playing bad guys, so when you examine this trio of characters, they all work off of each nicely.

Unleashed is a somewhat mindless action film, but it is entertaining. Released under the title Danny the Dog, Unleashed is definitely worth a rental.