Jet Li raising his screen cred

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Jet Li stretches his acting muscles in "Unleashed," but his martial-arts chops get their moments. Action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping was involved in the film about a developmentally disabled man collared like a dog and trained to attack on command. Rogue Pictures UNLEASHED R, for violence, crude language, sexuality and nudity 103 minutes

Granted, he hasn't gone so far as to say the film itself is the best he's been involved in — that distinction likely goes to the commercial blockbuster "Hero" — but it's hard to dispute that Li's turn as Danny, a developmentally stunted man-child raised to be an attack dog for a gangster, is the best pure acting he's attempted.

Abandoning the put-upon good guy/avenging disciple/inscrutable mystery warrior archetypes of his early career, Li brings surprising charm and vulnerability to his portrayal of Danny.

The premise is simple, if a bit twisted. Danny is adopted by Uncle Bart (Bob Hoskins) as a child and raised, literally, like a dog.

He lives in a cellar beneath Bart's office and scoops his food from a can with his bare hands.

Bart controls Danny with a metal collar. Collar on, Danny is walking dead air, an emotional blank slate barely capable of speech. Collar off, Danny is a brutal and relentless weapon of massive enough destruction, a grenade Bart tosses at his enemies.

But there is depth to Danny, revealed when blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) unknowingly opens a link to Danny's past when he tunes a piano in a warehouse. Sam is the first person to show Danny true kindness.

A violent twist of fate provides Danny a chance at putting his violent past behind him and he grabs it. Wobbles to it, at least.

Taking refuge with Sam and his stepdaughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon), Danny finds happiness and redemption in the mundane world of family dinners, supermarket visits and his very own Casio keyboard.

By the time Bart reappears, Danny has adopted a new ethos: "No more killing." Whether he can make good on this and still save his new family is the crucial question. And the possibility that audiences might actually root against another primo butt-kicking scene for the sake of Danny's soul is a credit to Li's development as an actor.

Where too many martial-arts action flicks treat fight sequences like arena rock guitar solos — gratuitous flips around which all else is warrant and pretense — "Unleashed" subtly subverts the norm. After watching Danny go from cowering under his new bed like a frightened animal to picking out melons at the local market and blushing at Victoria's tentative experimental kiss, there is a palpable sense of dread when Danny is forced to confront his past life.

One worries the transplant won't take.

Yet, while the film operates as a caution against the corruptive influence of violence, the action scenes are undeniably seductive. One doesn't enlist action choreographer Yuen Wo Ping for nothing, of course.

Li's opening scene is stunning in its animalistic violence. Like an animal, Danny attacks his opponents one by one with deadly, dispassionate focus. His moves, basically pouncing and pummeling, are precise but without art.

As Danny starts to find his humanity, his movements take on the more refined look of formal martial arts, a shift that while illogical makes fine visual sense.

To be sure, buying in to the story requires a fairly substantial suspension of disbelief and, even with that, the occasional leaps in logic and shortcuts in storytelling can be jarring.

Li no doubt benefits from the presence of Freeman, Hoskins, and Condon — all excellent actors who know how not to steal a scene. Freeman reportedly came up with the idea of making his character blind, perhaps to keep things interesting for himself in a role that otherwise lacks challenge. But what Freeman's way-too-prescient Sam might lack in complexity, he makes up for in presence. His voice alone strikes a nice balance against the cold London streets.

Danny's awkward relationship with the teenage Victoria leads to some interesting tension. Fraternal affection? Puppy love? His scenes with Condon have a feel as uncertain as the rest of the life Danny is trying to piece together.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2461.