Unleashed

The boy-raised-by-mobsters tale Unleashed is an intriguing little action thriller, a half-and-half story divided between sequences of vicious violence and quiet, wryly comic scenes of newfound domesticity. Morgan Freeman and Bob Hoskins add rich dramatic weight as polar-opposite surrogate fathers competing for the heart, mind and deadly dangerous body of Jet Li, who plays Danny вЂ" a human attack dog on a leash.Life in a cage, eating tins of cold spaghetti with his hands, is the only existence Danny knows. His "uncle" Bart (Hoskins), a heartless loan shark in Glasgow, Scotland, has raised Danny like a pit bull, restraining him with an actual collar whose removal and the words, "Get 'em!" signal that he's to attack without mercy.Circumstance turns Danny into a stray, and he finds shelter with Sam (Freeman), a kindly blind piano tuner, and his spirited teenage stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon), a talented pianist. They introduce Danny to music, a salve to his violently conditioned soul.Inevitably, Bart comes looking for his lost pet, setting up a showdown as Danny tries to protect his new family and save himself from his uncle's thugs.The transitions from bloody fight sequences to Danny's quiet home life with Sam and Victoria and back again are jarring in their abruptness. But then, no one has ever accused screenwriter Luc Besson of being overly subtle.

The performers carry the movie, credibly presenting a basic good-against-evil dynamic that leaves you praying for the safety of Sam and Victoria and hankering for Bart's head on a platter.Director Louis Leterrier crafts cleverly choreographed, photographed and edited fight scenes, but he also gets out of the way in the calm moments and lets his actors act.