Kiss of the Dragon

December 10, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 100 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Kiss of the Dragon is the latest martial arts movie from Jet Li. Martial arts films have always been treated much like B-movies in America for the most part. However, there always seems to be room for maybe one or two martial artists who have enough charisma to attract not only fans of the genre, but have enough main stream appeal to do big box office. Names in this category would include guys like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan. Jet Li seems poised to have his name added to this list. Is this the movie that’ll solidify him as a guaranteed box office draw? I doubt it.

Kiss of the Dragon

As with most martial arts films, the story exists as something to use to tie the action sequences together. Li plays a Chinese agent of some sort. They refer to him as a policeman, but he certainly acts more like a secret agent or something. For starters he’s on a special assignment in Paris, an assignment so secretive that he doesn’t even know the details himself and gets the details as he goes along on a need to know basis. This doesn’t sound like a cop to us. Things go terribly wrong, and the French end up framing Li’s character for the whole thing. So against impossible odds, he must clear his name, save the girl and nail the bad guys. Let the butt kicking commence!

And kick butts he does! Jet Li against a few hundred French? I’m not sure whether to put my money straight up on Li or to place a hedge bet on the French just outright surrendering. The fight sequences are very good. We were happy to see that unlike his previous efforts in Romeo Must Die, there’s very little use of wires for the fights. Instead, much like Jackie Chan, he uses lots of unusual objects from the scenery as part of the fight to keep things interesting and unique.

The plot is a bit on the weak side and full of holes. But a martial arts movie is not judged on story so much as it is the quality of the fighting and action sequences. Jet Li did a pretty good job there, the eye candy with the fight sequences was compelling. However, it’s not compelling or original enough to make this movie a must see on the big screen. As such we’re giving it 3 stars. If you’re in the mood for a martial arts film, it wont disappoint you, but for the majority of us, this one can wait til the DVD is released.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 3 Stars, Action, Bridget Fonda, Burt Kwouk, Jet Li, Laurence Ashley, R, Tcheky Karyo, Theatrical