I struggled with this film throughout. At times it works on your emotions successfully, but undercuts those emotions with characters that are inconsistent.
The story follows Danny (Jet Li, HERO), a savage hitman who has been beaten of his humanity by gangster Bart (Bob Hoskins, MONA LISA). Danny wears a collar that makes him docile, but when Bart removes it Danny becomes a raging, unstoppable killer. As the story progresses, Danny ends up meeting and eventually taken in by blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), who has a stepdaughter named Victoria (Kerry Condon, NED KELLY). Sam and Victoria make Danny a part of their unusual family. They also go about teaching Danny to readjust to normal society.
The story plays well as a comic book fantasy, but strains plausibility too often. Sam is very protective of Victoria, so why would he take in a complete stranger like Danny who he found bleeding in a warehouse? In a matter of a few months, Danny turns from a vicious dog into a calm, sensitive young man. In addition, the 40-something Li seems too old to be playing Danny and Condon seems to be playing an immature 17-year-old who looks like a person in her late 20s. (I know Condon is really in her early 20s, but she doesn’t look it.)
These issues of credibility really weigh down the film. However, the film does elicit a good amount of sympathy for Danny. Key to this is the solid performances of Li, Freeman and Hoskins. The latter is marvelous in the film, creating a truly original sleaze bag. Additionally, the production is slick and the fight scenes are well choreographed. For action fans, I’d say check it out. It’s not terrible by any means, but it just is hard to swallow from start to finish.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
