Mark Goes to the Movies

Unchained (dir. Louis Leterrier) In the future some Luc Besson scholar will write a Ph.D. dissertation on his thematic fascination with families, especially the kinds of families very damaged people form with other equally damaged people (cf. La Femme Nikita, The Professional). Strangely, it balances his films' emphasis on brutal and stylish violence. So this one (which Luc wrote and produced) stars Jet Li as a child adopted by a gangster (the wonderfully odious Bob Hoskins) and trained to fight in illegal, to-the-death matches--then adopted all over again by kindly, blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman could give this performance in a deep coma) and his nutty and gorgeous stepdaughter, who teaches him to play the piano. Of course, everything goes down in a huge chase-fight sequence, but to its credit, the film spends a lot of screen time developing the familial relationship. And this was one film where JL actually gets to display some emotional range--he's not as good an actor as he is a movie martial artist, but he could be someday. Mark's rating: ***