Where to watch Kiss of the Dragon
4 Stars
Liu Jian, a police officer from China, comes to Paris to help the vice squad apprehend a Chinese drug lord and his unknown French connection. The French connection is Richard, the head of the vice squad, who intends to kill the drug lord then frame Jian. Jian ducks a bullet and escapes with a tape of what really happened. By chance, Jian turns to Jessica – a US farm girl who is one of Richard’s hookers – for help. She has her own problems, including the fact that Richard has her daughter locked in an orphanage to keep Jessica on the streets and silent about his activities. Can Jian protect Jessica, rescue her daughter, and give Richard the kiss of the dragon?
Jet Li’s American film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 was met with much fanfare. Li was hailed as a new action hero in the era when the previous decades’ stars like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Damme, and Seagal were all in career freefall. Li’s first solo outing, Romeo Must Die, while a box-office hit, is a lame and cheap-looking film that robs him of not only any charisma but also features awful early naught’s wire-work-dependent fight choreography. The same can be said of his follow-up, The One, another financial success but a disappointment to fans.
Which is why it’s so curious that his third offering, Kiss of the Dragon, which is undoubtedly his best American studio film, was met with a tepid response as far as ticket sales. I think he had sullied the goodwill that Lethal Weapon 4 had given him with audiences by releasing two sub-par movies as follow-ups. So, by the time that Kiss of the Dragon premiered, people had a ‘wait til home video’ attitude towards Jet Li’s product. I also offer that this movie built up his stock with action fans, and that is why his next project, Cradle 2: The Grave, while a terrible movie, made a significant amount more than Kiss of the Dragon.
This is the movie for Jet Li fans. It features three sensational action set pieces, my favorite being a 30-1 fight in a dojo, and is stylishly photographed and mounted. The story has been stripped down to its leanest form, but that’s ok. This gives the impressively athletic and nimble star the ability to execute serious adrenaline-pumping action scenes. Bridget Fonda is superb as the ex-junkie hooker. She is matched by the equally effective and subtly comedic performance by Tchéky Karyo as the evil police investigator. Kiss of the Dragon is a gem of a martial arts action film from an era when the genre was on shaky legs.
Directed by: Chris Nahon
Written by: Jet Li, Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Starring: Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo