Unleashed (AKA Danny the Dog)

Dir: Louis Leterrier

2005

***

During the 2000s Luc Besson wrote many scripts but ended up only making a few of them. 1999’s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc was a great epic but we had to wait six years for Angel-A and another five for The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec – both were underrated in my opinion but his success never quite lived up to the masterpieces he made in the 80s and 90s. His scripts and film he produced on the other hand were very popular, although looking back at them now, they haven’t all stood up to the test of time. People still remember the Transporter and Taken films but greats such as the Taxi series, the District 13 films and Colombiana are almost forgotten. Then there is Unleashed aka Danny the Dog. Directed by Louis Leterrier – who, along with Olivier Megaton and Gérard Krawczyk seemed to direct all of Besson’s scripts in the 00s – Unleashed was something of an oddity that I found quite appealing. It sort of felt like a Luc Besson film but not quite, it had his humour and quirks but none of the imagery but it worked, even though it felt like it shouldn’t. Besson wrote the story with Jet Li and Morgan Freeman in mind, although the film was only set in Glasgow because Billy Connolly was originally cast – and started filming – before his character was replaced by Bob Hoskins. It starts in Scotland where we meet Bart (Bob Hoskins), a vicious loan shark whose method of persuading men to pay him back involves Danny the Dog (Jet Li), a man with the mentality of a child and a dog. Danny is a violently skilled fighter who stops at nothing to take down his targets but only when a metal collar around his neck is removed by Bart. Once the collar is on, Danny is a harmless, withdrawn person, with very little knowledge of how to live as a socialised person. He is constantly bullied by Bart, whom Danny perceives as his master. Danny meets Sam (Morgan Freeman), a kind blind pianist, at the antique warehouse while dealing with Bart's clients. After the collar trick with Danny starts to fail, Bart realises he can end his loan shark career by entering Danny as a fighter in underground fighting death-matches. If Danny wins, Bart receives a hefty prize money that could see him retire. However, after the first fight, Bart is attacked by another criminal and is left for dead after being shot by a semi-automatic weapon. A critically injured Danny returns to the antique warehouse for shelter, where he is found by Sam. Danny is unconscious for two days and wakes up at the home of Sam and his stepdaughter Victoria (Kerry Condon), Danny starts to open up to them starting a new life with the benevolent family. The two teach Danny how to eat, read, speak, cook, go grocery shopping, and how to play the piano. Danny socializes with Victoria and Sam by hanging out with them in public areas and taking family photos. Danny drastically changes with new clothes, hairstyle, and fresh lifestyle. He finally learns to live without his collar after Victoria removes it. He is drawn closer to music while spending time with Victoria. He also develops curiosity about who his mother was after Victoria teaches him what it means to have a family. Weeks later Sam informs Danny about moving back to New York, where he and Victoria are originally from. He invites Danny, telling him they think of him as family, and Danny happily accepts. However, Danny runs into Bart’s right-hand man Lefty in the streets and is forced back to Bart after Lefty threatens to hurt Sam and Victoria. Bart who is recovering, drags Danny back to the underground arena, where a death-match is set between Danny and ruthless martial artists. Despite Danny’s refusal to fight, Bart shoves him into the pit, where he is attacked by four fighters while trying to defend himself. Danny eventually retaliates by beating the four fighters, but refuses to kill them. Bart kills the first fighter at gunpoint, drags Danny back home, and shuts him back in his cage. That night, Danny sneaks through his door and goes through photographs of Bart’s favorite prostitutes, finally finding one snapshot of who appears to be Danny’s own mother. He interrogates Bart, who tells him that she was simply a prostitute who is long gone. He angrily promises to make Danny repay him for the money he had lost earlier that evening. Next morning, Danny manages to escape from Bart by causing the car to crash and goes back to Sam and Victoria, telling them what he has learned and where he was. With the two's help, Danny figures out that his mother was a pianist who had financial problems. As Victoria plays the same music his mother played, Danny regains memories from his childhood past: his mother was a music student with no money, so she offered herself to Bart to get some to pay for her lessons. But one day, Bart showed up, she tried to hide Danny from Bart but Danny came out of hiding. She defied Bart and was killed. Bart has been raising Danny ever since, not as a human being, but as a dog. After regaining the memories, he and Victoria try to pack up when a confused Sam returns. Bart and a large gang of thugs arrive at Sam's apartment building to capture Danny. Danny hides Sam and Victoria in their closet, and runs out to fight the thugs. He faces off against an attacker with a skill level similar to his own; Danny eventually causes him to fall on Bart's car. Bart and his men pursue Danny through the building with guns, finally catching him in Sam's apartment. He threatens to pull the trigger, all the while telling him that he was never meant for a different kind of lifestyle. But he drops the gun and instead takes out a collar, telling Danny to come home. Danny slowly advances toward the collar, but stops Bart at the last minute and disarms him. He proceeds to furiously beat Bart, causing Sam and Victoria to burst out and beg Danny not to kill; however, a defeated Bart orders Danny otherwise. Bart tells Danny he will always be an animal, to which Sam responds by smashing a flower pot on his head, knocking him unconscious. Sam, Danny, and Victoria embrace having calmed Danny's rage. Bart is arrested in the aftermath. Some time later, Danny is with Sam at a piano recital at Carnegie Hall, where Victoria is getting ready to perform. Realising Victoria is playing what his mother played years ago, Danny sheds a happy tear. The soft side of the story is melodramatic and a little too precious in my opinion, the film is probably at its best when Danny is fighting. That said, Jet Li’s acting is superb in the scenes where he is learning about the world around him. It’s really no masterpiece but its odd and quirky and has a unique style about itself. I think I would have liked to have seen a Luc Besson directed version but it may well have finished his career off. I liked it a lot but I may be in the minority, I just think it’s the right kind of odd.