Unleashed

Jet Li plays Danny the Dog, kept in captivity by a crime lord (Bob Hoskins) for most of his life wearing a special dog collar. Danny has been trained to kill all enemies in sight when that collar is removed, making for some pretty good fight scenes (Li is an exciting martial artist). Surprisingly, Li does a decent job with the dramatic stuff, as well. Morgan Freeman plays a blind piano tuner who takes the wounded Danny in, and the scenes between Forman and Li are kind of sweet. The movie goes on a bit long and feels as if it’s repeating itself after a while, but the look of the picture is decent, and the action remains strong. Danny’s cage match with a bunch of modern gladiators trying to rip his head off is good stuff. Again, the biggest surprise here is that Li manages some decent emoting in an English-language film.