Unleashed

Luc Besson is an great storyteller, though is really a shame that he doesn't direct his movies anymore (his latest was The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, and before that he gave us the masterpieces Nikita, Leon and The Fifth Element). But I'm happy with him just writing anyway, because he's given us The Transporter a few years ago, and now Unleashed. Besson also did the first draft of the American version of Taxi (he had already made 3 Taxi movies in France) that came out last year but I'm going to forget about that one for now.

Directed by Louis Leterrier (who directed The Transporter), Unleashed is the story of Danny the Dog (which was the original title of the movie), a man raised to be an animal, and also a lethal weapon, so when his owner, boss and uncle Bart takes of his collar, Danny goes to battle for money and we get some of the most brutal fights ever put on screen. But something happens to Bart one day, and Danny runs off free when he meets Sam, an old man that fixes pianos (Danny is in love with them) who takes Danny to his house and with the help of his daughter Victoria, teach him to be a normal person which includes learning how to eat, dress and just be around people. Danny soon becomes that normal person, but then Bart comes back and he wants his dog back.

The entire cast makes for some powerful acting, expected of course from the now Oscar Winner Morgan Freeman as Sam, who is a paternal figure for Danny, the voice of reason, plus he's blind. A total class act from Morgan Freeman here.
But then Bob Hoskins, who was the title character in the totally awesome Super Mario Bros. movie twelve years ago, and is now making a come back with a big role in last year's Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea and also (sadly) in this year's horrible Son of the Mask. Despite that last one, he's great here as Danny's owner Bart. A horrible human being who just wants money and whores, and so he raised Danny to be an attack dog who could kill and only kill so he could make money.
Victoria is played by almost newcomer (at least to the US) Kerry Condon. Sam's daughter, and a real sweet girl who just wants to help Danny. She's innocent and pretty, and during her first minutes in the movie she was delightful and kind of reminded me to Besson's other muse, Natalie Portman.
And finally Danny himself and the star of the movie, Jet Li in a truly Award worthy performance. He's done mostly martial arts films ever since he started his Hollywood career years ago with a fantastic supporting role as the bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, and he showed a lot of acting range in Hero, but I still had no idea he could act like this. Portraying a man who has to be taught about life and human beings is certainly a challenge, and Jet Li pulls it off effortlessly giving perhaps the best acting performance of his career.
He still does martial arts of course, and is bone breaking, flesh tearing and just brutal. Plus he fights like an animal, so his moves are not clean and choreographed, they are raw and all crazy.

The cheering will come with the incredible fights, which are a lot by the way, but Jet Li's excellent chemistry with Morgan Freeman and Kerry Condon makes for some of the best scenes in the movie. And despite the movie being marketed as an action film, this is mostly a human drama, but both combine perfectly and with a style very similar Leon (aka The Professional) the result is a perfect masterpiece.