Unleashed

This must be a first - a British gangster martial arts romantic drama. Unfortunately, the sum of its parts do not add up to an exciting new cinematic genre.

Bob Hoskins plays Cockney gangland boss Bart. He "owns" Danny (Li), a human dog he controls with a collar. When it's on, he's meek and unanimated - but when Bart removes it, he becomes a merciless martial arts killing machine.

One day, Danny escapes and befriends a blind piano tuner (Freeman) and his teenage stepdaughter. Unaware of his past life, they take him in and gently encourage him to discover his human side.

Then Bart returns from the dead, anxious to reclaim his property.

Hoskins brings style and class to a part which plays like a one dimensional retread of Harold Shand in The Long Good Friday.

When he's on screen, the story sparkles but when he's not, it lapses into lacklustre drama, which not even Jet Li's impressive martial arts routines can bring to life.

The genre-busting film doesn't know what it wants to be. There's not enough martial arts and too much chat to keep action fans happy but there's too much spine-snapping violence for drama fans.

There's also too many unanswered questions. What was Bart doing in China to meet Danny's mother? Who taught him to fight like a supreme Ninja? Why is Bart's "manor" in Glasgow when he and his gang are all Cockneys? And why does no one in Glasgow have a Scottish accent?

Bizarre and disappointing, even with the presence of Freeman and Hoskins. This is a film which is due a cult following.