Danny the Dog
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006
So I just got done watching this movie and I must say, it wasn’t what I expected when I read the description at 1 AM this morning and set it to record on my DVR. I figured, “oh, Jet Li’s in it, should be a good martial arts movie.” No, it’s better.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a whole bunch of martial arts in it, beautifully choreographed by none other than Yuen Woo Ping , who is more prominently known for his work with The Matrix trilogy, but is also known for his amazing work with alot of Hong Kong action films. It’s written by Luc Besson, the man behind such greats as La Femme Nikita, Léon, and The Fifth Element among many others. He happens to be one of my favorite writer/directors, so it was quite a treat for me concidering I didn’t know any of this when I recorded it. While watching it, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Heart of a Dog written by Mikhail Bulgakov. While there’s really no similarities at all, for some reason I thought of this book that I read so long ago, probably because of the whole man-being-a-dog thing.
I highly reccomend this to anyone that is looking for a great story coupled with some good martial arts action. It also helps that the soundtrack for the film was written by Massive Attack, another favorite of mine. Funny thing is, the US name for the film is “Unleashed”, which sounds kind of stupid, honestly. I like “Danny the Dog” much better. I’m not sure why it was changed, but I’d imagine it’s because people in the US have a huge fucking stick stuck up their ass when it comes to anything remotely thought challenging.
So I just got done watching this movie and I must say, it wasn’t what I expected when I read the description at 1 AM this morning and set it to record on my DVR. I figured, “oh, Jet Li’s in it, should be a good martial arts movie.” No, it’s better.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s a whole bunch of martial arts in it, beautifully choreographed by none other than Yuen Woo Ping , who is more prominently known for his work with The Matrix trilogy, but is also known for his amazing work with alot of Hong Kong action films. It’s written by Luc Besson, the man behind such greats as La Femme Nikita, Léon, and The Fifth Element among many others. He happens to be one of my favorite writer/directors, so it was quite a treat for me concidering I didn’t know any of this when I recorded it. While watching it, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Heart of a Dog written by Mikhail Bulgakov. While there’s really no similarities at all, for some reason I thought of this book that I read so long ago, probably because of the whole man-being-a-dog thing.
I highly reccomend this to anyone that is looking for a great story coupled with some good martial arts action. It also helps that the soundtrack for the film was written by Massive Attack, another favorite of mine. Funny thing is, the US name for the film is “Unleashed”, which sounds kind of stupid, honestly. I like “Danny the Dog” much better. I’m not sure why it was changed, but I’d imagine it’s because people in the US have a huge fucking stick stuck up their ass when it comes to anything remotely thought challenging.