Product Description

Martial arts genius Jet Li explodes onto the screen with an intensity not seen since Bruce Lee. "Kiss of the Dragon" is not merely a thriller but a shocker. (San Francisco Chronicle) China's top secret agent visits Paris on a pleasure trip only to encounter government espionage at the highest level. "Li's action sequences are like an oil fire, spilling from one room into the next and lighing up in the interiors with heat and wreakage"! (The New York Times)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11425 in DVD
• Brand: KiSS
• Released on: 2002-01-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Let's face it: No one is usually checking a Jet Li movie for the verbal sparring. In Kiss of the Dragon, Chinese undercover agent Li chops his way through Paris after he's framed in some sketchily defined drug sting operation. The fight sequences are tough and quite brutal, and the over-the-top finale is arguably worth the price of admission, wherein an implacable Li takes on the entire Paris Police Bureau, working his way up toward police chief Tchéky Karyo's office through cops, a pair of peroxide-blond twin henchmen, and a whole class of kung fu cadets. Co-screenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) should know by now what makes for a nifty genre piece, but the woeful dialogue is a shame, and there aren't nearly enough action sequences to get your blood boiling. Poor Bridget Fonda gives it the old school try in a thankless role as an ex-junkie prostitute from the Midwest whose young daughter is being held captive by duplicitous police chief/drug lord/pimp Karyo (who fairly inhales the scenery). Director Chris Nolan might have pushed further the strangers-in-a-strange-land camaraderie between Li and Fonda, but the script still would've sunk him. --Steve Wiecking

From The New Yorker
The tiny, mild-looking Jet Li, playing a Chinese secret agent, shows up in Paris and joins a team of rogue French cops led by Tchécky Karyo, who rushes about like a madman, screaming profanities in English. Gone are the balletic wonders of the Hong Kong cinema. Westernizing the genre, Luc Besson (who wrote and produced; the film was directed by Chris Nahon) shoots up the lobby of the Ritz and destroys an innocent bateau-mouche cruising the Seine. Jet Li is fun to watch, but in a series of absurdly bloody battles he winds up killing most of the Paris police. Bridget Fonda rather desperately tries to hang on as a battered prostitute. Some of the cinematography, by Thierry Arbogast, is stylishly dark and moody, but by the time you notice it you may be past caring. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

"Sometimes the best are also the worst. It's really sad. "
First the good news.
This is a very entertaining film
on many levels.
The plot is simplistic, but that
is alright because the action sequences
are excellent.
Jet Li's character in this film does have
some depth, the only one that does,
and I liked it very much.
Jet Li is the best martial artist on film
at the time of this review and he is in
great form in this one.
Admit it, the primary reason to watch
a Jet Li film is to watch him air out
his fighting skills, and in this case,
his needle-placement skills.
In that regard, this an excellent film,
but...

The bad news.
The characters are extremely cliche
and the acting and over-acting,
with some exception, is not at
all good, noticeably so.
What could have been an excellent crime
drama becomes an over the top moving comic
book.
Too many ridiculous things happen,
such as policemen whipping out machine guns
on city streets, hotel rooms and lobbies,
fighting in orphanages, etc.,
at will with no apparent blow-back from anyone
but a foreigner visiting the country (France).
The soundtrack had no continuity at all.
I thought the techno music suited the film
quite well, but the rap music nearly ruined
the fight sequence with the nasty twins at
the police station for me, rescued only
by the last few moments when there was no music
as it should have been done.
I wanted this to be a different type of movie,
but it never was.

The way it ends is very nicely done.

It is good enough to watch multiple times,
but it could have been so much better
had it been produced for intelligent adults
rather than as a product for the marketplace.
I consider film to be an art form.
This is commercial art, not fine art.
Hence the three star rating.

This movie f***ing sux!
This movie makes me want to kill myself.

F*** Bridget Fonda. Shes terrible.

Great Blu Ray Quality!
The moive itself is your standard low-budget, over the top action film. It has the usual plot and the usual action. I am not here to talk about the film, but the BD quality.

The BD quality is very good and pristine - for a single layer BD with DTS-HD MA! I see the specs on Amazon do not mention that! DTS-HD Master Audio is THE reason to get this disc! It is also the reason the price is so high.

The film is not bad, but if you were looking for a true martial arts film or a believable action film, this is not it. Jet Li had great promise, but most of his movies do not compare to his scenes in Lethal Weapon 4. It is something to watch, but not something to keep.