May 13, 2005 | Once upon a time, an orphaned little prince was adopted by a cruel ogre. The prince, whose name was Danny, was sorely mistreated by the ogre throughout his entire childhood. Most of the day, the ogre kept him locked away in a deep, dark dungeon. From time to time, however, the ogre would train young Danny to become a vicious fighter, all the while seeking to transform the unfortunate orphan into an unthinking animal. Eventually, alas, Danny learned his lessons all too well.
Danny grew up to be the ogre’s very own personal attack dog. As long as he was leashed, he was docile and sweet. But whenever his leash was removed, Danny did very bad things to people who displeased the ogre. One day, Danny slipped away from the ogre, and fell in with good companions who treated him kindly. For the first time in his life, he discovered how it felt to be treated as a human, not as an animal. Also for the first time in his life, Danny learned how to smile. Without the ogre around, the happy prince realized, life was sweet.
Unfortunately, ogres have a nasty habit of reappearing just when they can cause the most mischief.
Believe it or not, this fairy-tale scenario is the plot for a new movie that stars martial-arts dynamo Jet Li (Hero, Romeo Must Die) and is titled, appropriately enough, Unleashed. Even more amazingly, the movie somehow transcends the innate silliness of its high-concept premise, and turns out to be – no kidding! – one of the most enjoyable popcorn flicks to appear at a megaplex in recent memory. And while this may sound like a strange thing to say about an R-rated drama in which several characters are beaten to death, it’s also an uplifting feel-good fantasy, utterly shameless yet genuinely affecting in its unabashed sentimentality. Between the breaking of bones and the smashing of heads, it yanks at the heartstrings with uncommon efficiency.
Beaucoup credit must go to French auteur Luc Besson, a prolific multi-hyphenate whose previous films as director, writer and/or producer (including The Professional, the charming story of a hit man redeemed by a little girl’s companionship) indicate a penchant for violent melodrama leavened with industrial-strength poignancy. Louis Leterrier (The Transporter) is the director of record for Unleashed, and he does a bang-up job of sustaining pace and interest between the crunchingly violent, not-for-the-squeamish action sequences. (It helps, of course, that Leterrier has legendary fight choreographer Yuen Wo-ping on his payroll.) But Besson is the one whose – well, can we say “artistic vision” in this context? No? OK, let’s just say that, as scriptwriter, Besson sets the overall agenda by infusing the movie with his trademark storytelling sensibilities.
The movie takes place in a contemporary Glasgow where the police are as visible as leprechauns, effete villains host lethally extreme sporting events, and unlicensed moneylenders make their rounds while accompanied by bantamweight killing machines. It’s easy to sympathize with poor Danny, normally a meek and mild little fellow, as he cuddles a teddy bear, or gazes yearningly at picture-book images, while locked in a cage by his blustery “Uncle Bart.” But, then again, it’s just as easy to root for the guy when he’s pounding, stomping and otherwise manhandling those foolish folks who get behind in their payments to Bart. After all, Danny always is outnumbered when fists and feet start flying. And he’s been programmed to be loyal, to a fault, to an unworthy master.
As Danny, the puppy dog who becomes a pit bull whenever a Pavlovian dog collar is removed from his neck, Jet Li gives a marvelously expressive performance with a minimum of dialogue and a maximum of eloquent body language. (And no, I’m not just talking about his breath-taking ass-kicking.) Danny cowers and whimpers whenever he upsets his “uncle,” and with good reason: As Bart, the ogre-like loan shark who raised Danny to become a delinquent debtor’s worst nightmare, the uproariously ferocious Bob Hoskins always looks like – grrrrrrrrrrr! — he’s going to start chomping on other actors after he’s flossed the scenery from his teeth.
After Bart is sidelined by an unhappy customer, Danny is free to accept the hospitality of Sam (charismatic Morgan Freeman), a blind piano tuner, and Victoria (charming Kerry Condon), his elfin 18-year-old stepdaughter. Gradually, the movie’s predominant color scheme, heretofore a grainy range of greens and grays, switches over to warmer earth tones, all the better to signal the welcome comforts of civilizing domesticity. Introduced to the joys of ice cream, classical music and, most important, the love of a surrogate family, Danny blossoms. (Note the way Li charts the stages of Danny’s rebirth with the gradual unhunching of his shoulders, the increasing confidence of his stride.) There is, of course, a third-act threat to his new-found bliss. But “Unleashed” is one fairy tale that suggests a prince need not slay a dragon, but only subdue one, to live happily ever after.
