Unleashed [DVD]

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Product Description ------------------- Off-beat martial arts thriller. Danny (Jet Li) is a slave who has been raised like a dog by the sinister Bart (Bob Hoskins), who keeps him chained up and only unleashes him to use his martial arts skills in illegal underground pit fights. When Bart is injured in an accident, Danny is able to escape from his hellish existance, and goes on the run in a world which he can barely comprehend. Then he meets kindly piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman), who begins to teach him about music and what it means to be human. But Danny's new freedom doesn't last for long, as Bart recovers and sets out to regain his property. .co.uk Review ------------- Luc Besson wrote and directed the stylish thrillers La Femme Nikita and The Professional; though he didn't direct Unleashed, the script has his trademark fusion of outrageous sentimentality and over-the-top violence. Hong Kong action superstar Jet Li ( /gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=Jet%20Li+-ntsc ) (Romeo Must Die, Hero) stars as Danny, a man raised to be a brutal attack dog by a nasty gangster named Bart (Bob Hoskins ( /gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=Bob%20Hoskins+-ntsc ), Mona Lisa)--when Bart removes Danny's collar, Danny pulverizes everyone in the room. But a chance encounter with a blind piano tuner (Morgan Freeman ( /gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=Morgan%20Freeman+-ntsc ), Million Dollar Baby) reveals to Danny the possibility of a less brutal life, and when a retaliation attack gives him the chance to escape, he does--but Bart won't let him go that easily. The fighting in Unleashed is effectively jolting; Li and fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix) have purposefully stripped away the smoothness of most movie combat (especially with a genuine martial artist like Li) with raw, unnerving results, especially when juxtaposed with the sweet and earnest scenes of Li regaining his humanity with Freeman and his step-daughter (Kerry Condon). This freewheeling cocktail of bloody noses and ice-cream cones isn't for everyone, but fans of both Besson and Li will leave satisfied. --Bret Fetzer