Unleashed () is a 2005 action thriller film directed by Louis Leterrier, written by Luc Besson, and co-produced by Jet Li and Besson. It stars Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins and Kerry Condon, with action choreography by Yuen Woo-Ping. The film's setting and shooting location are Glasgow.
Plot
Bart, a vicious loan shark residing in Glasgow, uses his bodyguard, Danny, to attack non-complying customers. Bart has raised and trained Danny to be an attack dog and uses a metal collar around Danny's neck to control him; once the collar is off, Danny becomes a violently skilled fighter who relentlessly attacks his target. Once on, however, the collar turns Danny docile and harmless. As a result, he has very little knowledge on how to act as a socialized person, and the collar trick begins to fail due to its inherent limitations.
A crime boss approaches Bart with a business deal, offering Bart hefty money in exchange for Danny winning monthly death matches held in an underground fighting ring. After Danny easily wins the first fight, however, Bart gets into a mishap with another mobster and is left for dead after a shooting. Danny survives and takes refuge in an antiques warehouse, where he passes out due to his injuries. Sam, a blind piano tuner, takes him to his home. Together with his stepdaughter Victoria, Sam treats Danny's wounds and warmly welcomes him to their family. Danny slowly learns to be a civilized man and abandons his violent nature, especially after Victoria removes his collar. He also curiously develops an interest in music and begins using scattered memories to try and remember his past, particularly his mother.
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, while out shopping alone, Danny runs into Bart's right-hand man Lefty, who reveals Bart is still alive. Lefty brings him back to Bart's compound, where Danny asks Bart if he knew Danny's mother. Bart denies knowing her and snaps a new collar back on Danny before taking him to the fighting ring. Danny refuses to fight, insisting he doesn't want to hurt people anymore, forcing a livid Bart to shove him into the pit. Danny initially struggles against his four opponents but eventually defeats them all to save his own life; however, he refuses to kill them, much to Bart's chagrin. Bart drags Danny back to their compound and throws him into his cell. However, Danny sneaks out and looks through Bart's old photographs, finding one of a person who looks like Danny's mother. Danny angrily confronts Bart, but Bart simply responds that his mother was a prostitute who is long gone.
Danny escapes from Bart the next morning and goes back to Sam and Victoria, telling them where he was and what he has learned. With the two's help, Danny regains memories from his childhood past: his mother was a music student in Glasgow who struggled with finances, so she offered herself to Bart in exchange for money, while hiding a young Danny in the closet. It ended when Bart shot her to death when she finally defied him, and Bart has raised Danny ever since.
Bart and a group of thugs arrive at Sam's apartment complex to capture Danny. Danny hides Sam and Victoria in their closet and goes out to fight them off. Danny proceeds to confront and 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 flowerpot on Bart's head, knocking him unconscious. Sam, Danny, and Victoria embrace.
Sometime later, Danny is with Sam at a piano recital at Carnegie Hall, where Victoria is getting ready to perform. Realizing Victoria is playing what his mother played years ago, Danny sheds a happy tear.
Cast
Jet Li as Danny a.k.a. Danny the Dog
Morgan Freeman as Sam
Bob Hoskins as Bart
Kerry Condon as Victoria
Vincent Regan as Raffles
Dylan Brown as Lefty
Tamer Hassan as Georgie
Michael Jenn as Wyeth
Jean-François Lénogue as Raffles thug
Scott Adkins as Swimming pool fighter
Silvio Simac (uncredited) as Swimming pool fighter
Mike Ian Lambert as The Stranger
Kazu Patrick Tang as Bart's Thug
Release
Unleashed was first distributed in France as Danny the Dog on February 2, 2005.