May 23, 2005
Unleashed
Jet Li .... Danny
Morgan Freeman .... Sam
Kerry Condon .... Victoria
Bob Hoskins .... Bart
Action packed and bittersweet at the same time, Unleashed follows the story of Danny, a man raised like a dog by Bart and used by Bart as a killing machine.
I think it goes without saying that fight scenes in a Jet Li movie are spectacular. This one is no exception. Jet Li pounces, attacks, kicks, and punches his way around the screen, dispatching his foes one by one.
The rest of the story is bittersweet and poignant (and yes, I cried at the end) and well acted by everyone involved. Jet Li shows great range as he portrays Danny going from docile to dangerous in the care of Bart to semi-normal in the care of Sam and Victoria.
There were several things that, to me, rang very untrue, which took away my enjoyment of the movie a bit.
How is it that Danny is this great fighter when no one's trained him to be? We're led to believe that Bart has kept him locked up like an animal so we're also supposed to believe that he just somehow grew into a great fighter? I guess it's possible that part of the collar on and off training also included fight training, but how realistic is that?
Also, when the big fight brouhaha is happening, why didn't any of the neighbors call the police? I mean, it's not as if Sam and Victoria were living in the slums or anything where people might look the other way at some violence. Then again, these are also the neighbors who didn't complain when Victoria felt the need to play the piano with Danny at 2am.
The other thing that got me was that the movie is supposed to take place in Glasgow. Apparently, there were a couple of signs that mentioned Glasgow. I guess I missed those. But you'd think that I'd have heard at least one or two Scottish accents, right? Nope, not a one. But then again, I am an American so distinguishing UK accents isn't my forte.
Overall, I'd say see it on DVD if you get a chance. If you liked Léon (or The Professional as it was known in the US), then you'll probably enjoy this movie, as it was written by the same guy (Luc Besson) and has many of the same themes running through it.
Imagine a film set in Toronto where every single character, from the lead actors to the incidental bitplayers, have a New York accent - for no apparent good reason. You might think it was rather bizarre. The question, in fact, might drive you so insane that you lose all track of the plot as you try to fathom the answer. This was the experience I had as a Scottish person watching 'Unleashed'. I actually spent the first hour of the film assuming it was set in London - after all the streets were peppered with cockney gangsters and everyone had an east end accent. It was only when I started recognising certain unmistakable Glasgow landmarks, and when Morgan Freeman's character makes reference to the "best supermarket in Glasgow" that I realsied to my shock that the film was set in Scotland.
You're right, there's not a single Scottish accent in the film. I loved 'Unleashed', but I have to admit this apsect of it kind of ruined it for me as i spend the final half hour thinking "Why does everyone have a London accent? If everyone has a London accent, why didn't they just set the damn thing in London?"
If anyone has an explanation for this bizarre Hollywood quirk then please, please enlighten me.