Unleashed

(Herald rating: * * )

This violent action flick is set in Glasgow, so you know sooner or later there will be a head-butt - a "Glasgow kiss", as it says in the Hardman's Book of Violent Phrases.

The surprise is that before its assorted gangland thugs deliver that cranial assault you have already been tempted to do the same to the seat in front of you out of sheer exasperation.

It promises a pulp potboiler with martial arts star Li playing Danny, who has been adopted and raised by loan shark Bart (Hoskins harking back to his role in Long Good Friday) to do his dirty work.

Treated like a dog, Danny does his master's violent bidding, beating up entire warehouses of debtors when his collar is removed, before being chucked back in his cage.

But Unleashed unleashes a convoluted mess as it tries to tug the heartstrings and throat-punch at the same time, with its story of Danny escaping his underworld life to find refuge with Freeman's kindly blind piano tuner and his keyboard prodigy step-daughter (Condon).

Screenwriter Luc Besson combined ultraviolence and sentiment effectively in Leon. While Li fared better in his last Besson-created Euro-thriller Kiss of the Dragon than he does here, his acting skills aren't up to the burden of playing Danny's change from violent automaton to sensitive Mozart fan.

Over-acting to the hilt, Hoskins hasn't been in as much danger of turning into a cartoon since Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, while Freeman plays his usual wise, avuncular self and escapes with his dignity intact - just.

There are plentiful fight scenes, yes, but the only memorable thumping happens within the narrow confines of a toilet cubicle. Li wins, of course, but you wonder whether there's a metaphor in the setting about where his screen career in the West is headed.

CAST: Jet Li, Bob Hoskins, Morgan Freeman, Kerry Condon
DIRECTOR: Louis Leterrier
RATING: R18 (violence, offensive language)
RUNNING TIME: 102 mins
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas