Unleashed (2005)
"Danny the Dog" (original title)

A man enslaved by the mob since childhood and raised into behaving like a human attack dog escapes his captors and attempts to start a new life.

Director:

Louis Leterrier

Writer:

Luc Besson

Stars:

Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jet Li	...	Danny
Morgan Freeman	...	Sam
Bob Hoskins	...	Bart
Kerry Condon	...	Victoria
Vincent Regan	...	Raffles
Dylan Brown	...	Lefty
Tamer Hassan	...	Georgie
Michael Jenn	...	Wyeth
Phyllida Law	...	Distinguished Lady
Carole Ann Wilson	...	Maddy
Mike Lambert	...	The Stranger
Jaclyn Tze Wey	...	Danny's Mother
Puthirith Chou	...	Teen Danny
Tony Theng	...	Little Danny
Owen Lay	...	Baby Danny

Storyline

A man treated like a dog and raised as a fighting machine his entire life, ends up in a coma and is taken in the care of good people, but his sinister owner is looking to retrieve his most prized possession: a non stop human weapon triggered by the collar leashed on his neck.

---

Plot Keywords:

dog | collar | fight | fighting | piano | 

---

Taglines:

Serve No Master

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violent content, language and some sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Rogue

Country:

France USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Unleashed

Filming Locations:

Blackfriar's Bar, Merchant City, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$227,728 (Brazil) (4 November 2005)

Gross:

$381,492 (Brazil) (11 November 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

EuropaCorp, Danny the Dog Prods Ltd., TF1 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Morgan Freeman's character Sam was at first not blind at all. After hearing from a piano school for the blind (with a very high reputation, and where the scholars developed their hearing), Freeman had the idea of making his character blind because like this it is easier for Sam to "see" the child in Jet Li's character, and not the brutal killer.

---

Goofs

In the fight with the man in white, while they are in the bathroom, the holes they make in the wall appear and disappear between shots, most noticeable during the missing head-butt.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Bart: Get 'em!

---

Connections

Referenced in Teen Wolf: The Tell (2011)

---

Soundtracks

"Round Midnight"
(Cootie Williams / Thelonious Monk / Bernard Hanighen (as Bernie Hanighen))
(c) 1944 Advanced Music Corp
with courtesy of Warner Chappell Music France

User Reviews

A Brutal-Yet-Touching Film

For a martial arts picture, "Unleashed" was above average because it had some heart and soul to it.....not just people beating the crap out of one another for two straight hours.

However, be wary of those who claim this isn't an action film. That's not true: there is a lot of action, quite a bit of brutality and profanity, mostly by Bob Hoskins' character "Bart" in this movie. Hoskins plays profane, nasty slave-owner who has locked up and trained "Danny" (Jet Li) to be the ultimate fighting machine. Once Danny is "unleashed" (literally) he's a killer and helps the gangster Bart in his criminal work.

Then, in a moment of further greed, Hoskins agrees to enter his man in a death match with a lot of money at stake. That match turns out to be a farce with Danny winning in a matter of seconds. The other promoter wants a rematch, and with more entertainment. In the meantime, however, Danny escapes his captors and winds up at the house of an older blind American, "Sam," played by Morgan Freeman. He and his 18-year-old daughter "Natalie" (Kelly Condon) befriend young Danny, slowly bringing him out of his "animal" state. Everyone discovers Danny has some very human characteristics and is basically a nice, gentle guy. The family helps uncover that through music (piano playing, to be exact). These are all touching scenes.

But then - and this is almost a cliché in these kind of films - the bad guy comes back, snatches him away and his former bad life comes back....except Danny is a changed man. How he can get out of this latest predicament and what happens to this new "adopted" family, takes up the rest of the story. That last part has the same thing: ultra-violent and touching scenes.

Jet Li does an excellent job in here, not only displaying his amazing physical talents but also showing us he has warmth in his face and heart.

Overall: a brutal, yet touching film: an odd combination.