Kiss of the Dragon
Review by Beth Ann Griese
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Kiss of the DragonReview by Beth Ann Griese |
Search Reviews · Now Playing · All Reviews |
| Starring | Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo | |
| Director | Chris Nahon | |
| Year | 2001 | |
| The Scoop | Jet Li is a super-cool (what else?) Chinese intelligence officer fighting an international conspiracy in Paris. It's Jet Li kicking tons of butt - too bad he didn't turn give the scriptwriters a swift kick or two while he was at it.. | |
| What it's worth |  |
Cable (If you're sick, stuck in front of the TV, and don't have much better to do with your time...) |
Kiss of the Dragon fulfills all the genre expectations. Right now, there's probably no greater martial arts star than Jet Li. Seeing him kick a billiard ball in mid-air, while he was five feet in the air and parallel to the floor, was worth the price of admission to me.
But dear heaven above, the plot is bad. Li is Liu Jiuan, a Chinese agent who goes to France to help police chief Richard (Tchéky Karyo) in a sting against a big-time bad guy. But it turns out that Richard is an even bigger-time bad guy, and the leader of a really nasty crime ring. Part of that crime ring includes prostitution, which introduces Jessica (Bridget Fonda), an American who is being imprisoned and pimped by Richard while he holds her daughter hostage.
There are so many things that don't make sense, it's useless to list them all. I'll give you the finest example of the dialogue though. When the final showdown is about to begin, Richard is holed up in the police headquarters with dozens of his men around him. His phone rings, and it is Liu.
Liu: "Come to the window."The whole audience cracked up laughing that Liu knew which window Richard was going to be in so he could find out where he was. And while we were laughing, Richard was busy telling all his policemen to run around in the building and conveniently leave him alone for Liu to find.
Richard: (Knows exactly which window to go to, peers out, sees Liu staring up at him.)
Liu: "Now I know where you are."
Adding to the glaring problems of this movie is Jessica. My only guess is that there must have been a lot of script drafts that were passed around while this movie was filmed, because Fonda alternates between playing Jessica as a frightened, drugged-out woman so abused she can barely stand and as a spunky street kid who's lived by toughing it out through hard knocks. She ends up as a confusing sidekick who doesn't accomplish anything except to, I kid you not, steal a turtle.
And did I mention that Liu is an acupuncturist? Neither does the movie, but every once in a while Liu pulls out some of those needles to do really amazing things with just a little jab. Did you know people have an on/off switch that puts them to sleep with just one pin and keeps them there until the second it's removed? The movie tries to convince us of it.
Li did an admirable thing as this film hit the streets, publicly warning people that the movie is very violent and that he had another coming out later in the year (The One) that would be more suitable for younger viewers. Li is absolutely right to warn parents. Martial arts movies vary widely in how explicit their violence is. This one really cranks up the nasty factor. People get beat with hot irons (I mean the kind that presses clothes) and stabbed in the throat with chopsticks. It's pretty brutal, so take Li's warning to heart.
See this movie to watch Jet Li do amazing stunts, although there are better ones out there. But if you do, buckle up for a really bumpy plot ride.
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