Unleashed (R)

Jet Li is a phenomenal talent when it comes to martial arts wizardry. Li has a knack for contorting his body in ways even the most sultry of yoga instructors can only dream of, and his command of the Chinese sport of Washu is something of legend. A successful actor in China, Li crossed over to Hollywood roles in the late 90s and has essentially turned out the same film for fifteen years with various recyclings of the title and story.We learned in “Romeo Must Die” that Li should stick to martial arts; a brazen statement, and one justified again with the 2005 piece “Unleashed.”

“Unleashed” opens with great potential as the film appears to own the backdrop of a classic British gangster film. We are introduced to a perfect lead villain named Bart (the great Bob Hoskins) a brutal loan shark who fronts a ring of organized crime. Though flanked by somewhat incompetent goons (as any good leaded in a British film needs to be) Bart’s real secret weapon comes in the form of Danny (Li) a seemingly zombie-like character who remains static in the face of danger – until Bart unlocks the electric collar from around his neck, which then turns Danny into an unstoppable fighting machine.

The veil of the movie is then unleashed (pun intended) about thirty minutes in when Danny meets a most unusual family of two; the overly cordial and blind Sam (Morgan Freeman, who may have been playing blind when handed the script and completely insane when he accepted) and his musically inclined adopted daughter Victoria (Kerry Condon) and the movie is shown for what it really is – a poorly acted rom-com and feel good story.

As one would expect from a Jet Li film, fights are plentiful and often nonsensical, such as the inclusion of an underground death match arena set up by a perfectly sinister character named Wyeth (Michael Jenn) but serving virtually no purpose other than a bout or two of graphic mayhem.

Most fights take place in a video game style manner, with an unarmed Danny defeating hordes of brutal fighters simultaneously. When Bart sends a legion of men to bring the wayward Danny back, one can’t help but wonder; since Bart trained Danny and was a firsthand witness to his talents and knows how unstoppable Danny really is, why bother?

Three quarters in and another super fighter is introduced – fellow martial artist Michael Ian Lambert – a shaved headed ninja that looks like he came straight from the basement of a Tibetan monastery. He is sent with a mandate from Bart to bring Danny back alive (though he goes to battle with a machete the size of a baseball bat). It takes over an hour for this character to mysteriously appear onscreen – and ninety seconds for him to be killed off in a great fight. Again, if Bart had this guy on his payroll, why not just use him instead of Danny?

“Unleashed” would have been better off had it stuck to its original start, and maintained the hard core gangster style film in pretended to be. Once Danny meets Sam and Victoria, the whole tone of the movie changes and a wad of unnecessary tripe is inserted. Through flashbacks we see the ridiculous explanation of what happened to Danny’s mother – and how he came to be in the service of Bart. Not once is the collar that controls his actions explained (like how can a simple dog collar control a grown man?)

Unless engaged in a fight, Jet Li meanders about the screen like a lobotomized pre-teen boy, unaware of anything going on around him and completely unbelievable. Jet Li differs from fellow martial arts star Jackie Chan in one robust way – at least Chan is funny.

Unleashed also squanders the great talents of the late Bob Hoskins. Hoskins commands the screen like only a perfect English thug can do, stopping at nothing to get what he wants and stepping on anyone that gets in his way (for Hoskins at his best, check out “The Long Good Friday” for a brilliant performance).

In the end, “Unleashed” is like every other Jet Li movie to date – plenty of over-the-top fighting and little in the way of anything else.

by – Matt Christopher