Kiss of the Dragon (2001)

Jet Li is an Interpol agent in France who finds himself framed for murder and must use all of his training to outwit a crooked police chief and save the lives of a prostitute and her young daughter.

Jet Li set out to create the ultimate modern day action movie with all the excitement of his best Hong Kong films and he has succeeded admirably. Kiss of the Dragon may be light on plot but it certainly grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until the credits role.

Jet Li plays Liu Jian, China’s top government agent who is sent to Paris to assist local police, headed by Richard (Tcheky Karyo) in an international drug bust. Suddenly, Liu finds himself framed for murdering a Chinese official. After a spectacular chase in a hotel, Liu escapes with evidence showing Richard as the real killer. While hiding out in a safe house, Liu meets Jessica (Bridget Fonda), a prostitute whose daughter is being held by Richard. The two end up on the run after Liu thrashes her pimp and his muscle men in a bone-jarring confrontation. When Liu’s evidence ends up in Richard’s hands, Liu strikes a deal with Jessica. She must get the evidence back and Liu vows to save her daughter. But Richard is one step ahead and his men put Jessica in the hospital. With the evidence safely with authorities, Liu storms Richard’s office to get Jessica’s daughter back.

Jet Li is definitely more comfortable in this role as a quiet, determined assassin than in his previous fish-out-of-water experience in Romeo Must Die. He struts through the scenes, doling out punishment in his most vicious and intense role yet. Li is also starting to develop a trademark in his films, namely props. In Romeo Must Die, it was plastic ties which he used to subdue adversaries. In a nice twist, Li uses acupuncture needles in Kiss of the Dragon to not only subdue, but to heal and to kill.

The plot and the character development are the weakest points of the film. Its not really made clear exactly why Richard is killing the Chinese official. Karyo’s over-the-top performance seems implausible considering that his character is trying to maintain his dedicated policeman image. Jet Li is not a great actor and it was a smart move to play him as a determined and quiet hero. His English has improved significantly and there are hints of humanity behind his character when he interacts with Jessica. It is refreshing that Li doesn’t feel compelled to be teamed up with some smart-talking Westerner. But with the limited interaction that Li engages in, the film doesn’t have much emotional impact. Bridget Fonda does the best job she could have done with the script’s dramatic limitations.

The marriage of Eastern and Western filmmaking never looked better. Luc Besson’s influence on the film is clearly seen. His principle cinematographer, Thierry Arbogast who had worked on most of Besson’s films handled action director, Corey Yuen’s fight scenes really well. The colors and tone of the film was clearly European, but the rapid movement and intensity was definitely Hong Kong style.

Kiss of the Dragon was at once fascinating and intense while also being disturbing and frustrating. The action is clearly king and Li and Yuen deliver in spades. Along with dozens of other faceless adversaries, Li’s main fighting foes are fictional brothers played by martial arts dynamos Cyril Raffaelli and Didier Azoulay. They definitely provide a memorable climatic fight with Li that is more satisfying than anything seen in the last half dozen Jet Li films. But what is still missing is resonance. Sure, this is an action movie but the filmmakers didn’t stop there. They threw in a prostitute with a child who wants a better life. The fact that Li’s two-dimensional character has no other reason to help her than because he is the hero is disappointing.

That said, Kiss of the Dragon is a shameless killer of an action flick. While downplaying the drama and keeping the plot painlessly simple, Li and company deliver a powerhouse mixture of kung fu and gun-fu destruction to rival the films of John Woo and Bruce Lee. While the high level of violence may rightly keep the film from garnering the widest audience, Jet Li has laid down the gauntlet and proclaimed to the world that he is one of the top international action stars alive.