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.