In theaters

UNLEASHED, directed by Luis Leterrier, written by Luc Besson, 103 minutes, rated R.

The new Luis Leterrier movie, “Unleashed,” was released in France under the title “Danny the Dog,” which gets right to the point. The movie is a howler.

As directed by Leterrier from a script by Luc Besson, “Unleashed” stars Jet Li as a confused, embattled orphan named Danny who is raised by his brutish Uncle Bart (Bob Hoskins) to be nothing short of a killer dog.

That’s the good news.

At 42, Li still is nimble, still clever behind the kick, still able to twist his body in ways that suggest his limbs are not of this world but of another. Backed by choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping, whose martial arts skills remain in high demand for good reason, Li is predictably at his best in “Unleashed” when he’s called upon to fight. His blows are precise, elegant, deadly.

It’s when he’s called upon to act that things get deadlier.

Instead of sticking to what they know and do best, Leterrier (“The Transporter”) and Besson ( “La Femme Nikita, “The Professional”) have stretched themselves thin by trying to move audiences with a story of hard luck and woe.

Essentially, they’ve made an action movie weepy, which sounds every bit as misguided as it is, particularly since neither is exactly a poet when it comes to plumbing one’s tear ducts. After a violent start, the movie sags into marshmallow land with cutesy-pie scenes of awkward character building, the likes of which can be repellingly heartwarming as Li is set adrift within them.

Set in Glasgow, which is shot here in the blues of a corpse, the film follows Danny as he breaks free from his life of crime with Bart and comes to live with an adoptive family – Morgan Freeman’s Sam, a blind piano tuner, and his stepdaughter Victoria (Kerry Condon), who is in Glasgow studying music.

Aware they are dealing with a fragile soul – the metal collar cinched around Danny’s neck is something of a giveaway that all isn’t right with the lad – Sam and Victoria allow him the room he needs to breathe while he sorts out his life.

He won’t have long to do so. Seething in the subplot is Bart, who has worked up a sweat in his ferocious vow to get Danny back regardless of the bloodshed and the lives lost. Meanwhile, Danny is a naif in utopia, flirting with Victoria over ice cream while working to reconnect with the world. What he finds are revelations about his mother (painful), the sort of dialogue that sets the movie on its can (atrocious), and the proper way to thump a melon (helpful).

“Ripe means sweet!” Danny says as he taps a piece of fruit. “And sweet means good!”

If only that were true for the movie, Danny boy. Here, ripe means rot, sweet means cloying, and good doesn’t even come close to describing all that follows.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

THE SEA INSIDE, directed by Alejandro Amenabar, written by Amenabar and Mateo Gil, 125 minutes, rated PG-13. In Spanish with English subtitles.

In Alejandro Amenabar’s “The Sea Inside,” Javier Bardem gives an Academy Award-nominated performance as Ramon Sampedro, a middle-aged quadriplegic who has lived 28 years beyond the day he believes he should have been allowed to die.

That day was spent diving high above the sea on the cliffs of his hometown in Spain. It ended with Ramon striking his head on the sea floor, breaking his neck and spending the next three decades without the ability to move anything other than his head. Now, the steadfast Ramon is pushing hard to be rid of the body he feels has imprisoned him.

He wants to die. Problem is, those who love him and take care of him want him to live. And if they want him to live, then how is Ramon going to die without their help? Through legislation? Fat chance. When it comes to euthanasia, Spain isn’t exactly handing out lethal combinations of pills for the asking.

Making matters more difficult for Ramon is that the Catholic Church has publicly intervened with a quadriplegic priest who is outraged that Ramon believes his life isn’t worth living. The priest argues that since he himself has led a productive life while confined to a wheelchair, certainly Ramon can do the same.

Likely he could – obviously he could – but should he be forced to do so? Or, as Ramon argues, should he be allowed to do what he wants with his own body? That’s the ethical dilemma steaming at this provocative film’s center, with Ramon meeting two women along the way who are his best chances for the death he craves.

Based on a true story, “The Sea Inside” is unabashedly romantic, to the point that Amenabar layers “Nessun dorma,” of all arias, over the scenes in which Ramon escapes his body by imagined flights through his bedroom window. Closing his eyes against the open air beyond, he flies over the sea that betrayed him, soars above mountaintops he can’t climb, blasts through cities he no longer can walk through. Some will argue it’s a bit much, but in this context and with this performance by Bardem, it’s nevertheless powerful and effective. Just try getting through it with a dry eye.

Though some might consider the movie to be a commentary on quadriplegia, “The Sea Inside” is really a film about personal choice and control over one’s life. It will elicit anger in some, compassion in others. Its ending will render its audience still.

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

VIDEO/DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those capped and in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Alfie – C-

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy – B+

Assault on Precinct 13 – C+

Bad Education – A

Being Julia – B+

Birth – B+

Blade: Trinity – D

The Chorus – A-

Closer – B-

Collateral – B+

Cursed – C-

Darkness – D+

Elektra – C-

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – A-

Exorcist: The Beginning – F

Finding Neverland – C

Flight of the Phoenix – C-

House of Flying Daggers – A

The Incredibles – A

In Good Company – B+

King Arthur – B

KINSEY – A

Ladder 49 – B

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – B-

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – D+

Maria Full of Grace – A

Meet the Fockers – C

Napoleon Dynamite – B+

National Treasure – C-

The Notebook – B+

Ocean’s Twelve – C-

The Phantom of the Opera – C

Ray – A

Saw – D

THE SEA INSIDE – A-

Shall We Dance? – B

Shark Tale – B-

Sideways – A

Taxi – D+

TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE – B-

William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice – C+

The Woodsman – B+