Unleashed
In ''Unleashed," Jet Li plays Danny, a boy in a man's body. He wears a big metal collar that when removed -- by his owner -- frees him to kill whoever is put in front of him, turning this childlike creature into a highflying (and lethal) pitbull. Set in Glasgow, the movie was written by the French action director Luc Besson and directed by Louis Leterrier, who made the rambunctious ''The Transporter" and its upcoming sequel.
It seems Danny's master, Bart (Bob Hoskins), has been ''training" him since boyhood, in an almost Pavlovian fashion, to be an attack dog used during Bart's trips to collect money from fellow thugs. When Danny's not stomping on people's backs or throwing bodies across rooms, he stands vacant and silent. He sleeps in a big metal cage where he does sit-ups in front of his teddy bear. The poor fellow even goes a solid half an hour without saying much, or even blinking. It seems Danny hasn't been right since his mother's death, a trauma that Bart likely had a hand in.
''Unleashed" tries bestowing some dignity on Danny and introduces Morgan Freeman as Sam, a widowed and blind piano tuner, who left New York City with his stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon), so she could attend music school in Scotland. Through a series of fortunate events, Danny winds up in their custody, and the movie turns into a sweet comedy of manners. Sam takes him along on tuning jobs, and Victoria shows Danny the dog how to act like Danny the puppy. When he gives a hug, the audience coos. Danny has ice cream, rides in boats, and learns to play songs on the piano, in particular one that's been haunting him since his mother's murder, which he intends to solve.
Because Besson enjoys the collision of worlds (perhaps you've seen ''The Professional," ''The Fifth Element," or, heaven help you, ''Taxi"), Danny endangers his new owners -- I mean family -- when he's dragged back into his old life, which also entails competing in clandestine death matches for money. It's all very Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Leterrier and Besson seem like enlightened gentlemen. So you have to wonder why having a 43-year-old Chinese guy go from one subhuman extreme to the other was an appealing casting conceit.
I understand that nobody breaks bones or spin-kicks the way Li does, but having him play such an unthinking, manipulated soul takes the fun out of what is otherwise a relatively enjoyable, well-concocted fight flick. And the movie has an unspoken but inescapable racial and ethnic problem -- Li is for the most part the only Asian, while all the other characters are British or American. But we're asked to ignore the problem and to sit back and enjoy Li's indefatigable grace and his work with the brilliant stunt choreographer Yuen Woo-ping.
Doing nothing special, Freeman manages to make the picture seem wiser, funnier, and more eloquent than it is. Freeman, as he is wont to do, even offers a proverb or two. Maybe he has one on why Li, this charismatic and sexy star, is relegated to playing death machines and ciphers. The insult in ''Unleashed" comes not so much in having Li act like a dog but in refusing to let him be a man.
Wesley Morris can be reached at wmorris@globe.com.
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