'Unleashing' talent

It should've been obvious that "Danny the Dog" was doomed to fail in the American box office as soon as Jet Li was cast in the role of the title character. Most of the time, the only compelling reason to watch any of his movies is for the fight scenes. The crappy American name, "Unleashed," couldn't have helped, either. They did a great job hiding a good movie.\n"Unleashed" is the story of Danny (Li), a man who is quite literally a British mobster's attack dog: when his collar is on, Danny quietly follows his master around, but when the collar comes off, he brutally attacks anyone his master orders him to. But when his master (Bob Hoskins) is the target of a violent mob hit, nearly killing Danny, he seeks refuge in a warehouse full of pianos.\nHere he meets Sam (Morgan Freeman), a blind piano tuner who takes Danny home like an abused, stray puppy. Living with Sam and his stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon), Danny slowly comes to terms with the world, and his rightful place in humanity.\nScreenwriter Luc Besson dumped gallons of optimism into this film's mentor character, and Freeman faithfully conveys every ounce of it. Li is also compelling, both as a savage in his fight scenes and as a lost puppy in his dramatic scenes.\nIronically, this film's weakest link is one or two of its fight sequences. They are so over-the-top, they almost look like what would happen if David Fincher directed a Jackie Chan movie. Don't let the "unrated" tag fool you either. The fight scenes in this edition are no more intense than the theatrical cut. This is a less-Americanized cut of the film, which focuses slightly more on the characters and the story. It also drops the RZA track at the end credits in favor of a beautifully melancholic Massive Attack track called "Aftersun."\nThere are a few bonus features on the disc, but most of the time, they tell you what you already knew after just one viewing of the movie.\nAs a whole, the film is not perfect, but with the brilliantly feeble marketing this movie had, it might just be better than you expected.