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Kiss of the Dragon (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:101
Fresh:51
Rotten:50
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: A formulaic actioner that's sure to please action fans. Those looking for plot, believability, or character development will have difficulty finding them.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: The writers of THE FIFTH ELEMENT, Luc Besson (who also directed the Bruce Willis film) and Robert Mark Kamen, have teamed up again to deliver Jet Li in the action thriller KISS OF THE DRAGON. Li... The writers of THE FIFTH ELEMENT, Luc Besson (who also directed the Bruce Willis film) and Robert Mark Kamen, have teamed up again to deliver Jet Li in the action thriller KISS OF THE DRAGON. Li stars as Liu Jiuan, a Chinese agent so dedicated to his job that he has no friends, no family, no dreams. He is sent to Paris to help the French police capture a Chinese gangster, but France's top cop, Jeanne-Pierre Richard (Tcheky Karyo), has set Liu up to take the fall for a brutal killing he himself carried out. On the run in a strange city, Liu keeps a low profile until he unwillingly becomes friends with an American hooker, Jessica (Bridget Fonda)--who just happens to hold the key to his innocence. But Richard is always one step ahead of them--he has Jessica's daughter. Li and Fonda make a great team; their relationship is at the core of the film, as neither character has ever been able to put his complete trust in another person before. The action scenes, directed by Corey Yuen, are fast and furious and very violent, featuring mesmerizing moves by Li, especially one involving a billiard ball. Chris Nahon, in his directorial debut, makes excellent use of the location, including numerous shots of famous Parisian landmarks as the bad cops try to machine-gun down Liu in the streets and sewers and on the Seine. [More]
Starring: Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tcheky Karyo, Burt Kwouk
Starring: Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tcheky Karyo, Burt Kwouk, Max Ryan
Director: Chris Nahon
Director: Chris Nahon
Screenwriter: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Producer: Luc Besson, Steven Chasman, Happy Walters
Composer: Craig Armstrong
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Kiss of the Dragon
It ain't art, but it sure is a good time for anyone who enjoys the occasional bit of bone-crunching entertainment.
Even with three people working on the script ... they were unable to come up with a plot.
Loaded with explosive set-piece after set-piece, each and every one designed to give Li the opportunity to do what he does best: kick massive butt.
Whack! Thworp! Crack! Sometimes, it's fun to sit back and enjoy the spectacle of bad guys getting their heads beaten in.
It's undeniably cool to see these displays, but it's also disheartening, because they come in the midst of such a shambles of a narrative.
Nicely filmed, acted and scored, "Kiss" is almost more of a drama than an action film.
The most enjoyable slice of popsploitation I've sat through all year.
Expecting a great story in a martial arts film is like expecting a great story in a musical.
Li jumps into a series of martial arts sequences of flying fists and balletic moves that truly reinvigorate a genre that has gone stale even in Asia.
Here's a movie that gives you exactly what you're looking for, if what you're looking for is kickass action.
The characters in Kiss of the Dragon are more cardboard than usual for an action movie.
Kiss of the Dragon offers just about a kill a minute, but less than a thrill a minute.
Kiss of the Dragon does have a sense of its own absurdity, but that doesn't prevent it from cloaking the inherently comic kung-fu genre in a seriousness so solemn that it could be French.
The story is formulaic, but this brutal, fast-paced thriller makes excellent use of Li's martial arts prowess.
Practical, resourceful and unfussy. That's Jet Li, the Martha Stewart of martial arts mayhem.
Fights are too few, interspersed with one of the longest, drowsiest stories ever to glue an action flick together.
The movie in between the mayhem ... is incomprehensible and wildly overacted by the non-combatants -- especially Karyo.
Latest News for Kiss of the Dragon
September 21, 2006:
Critical Consensus: "Jackass" Kicks; "King" Is Dethroned; "Fearless" Is Action-Packed; "Flyboys" Is Grounded
This week at the movies, we've got antisocial behavior ("Jackass: Number Two," with Johnny Knoxville and the gang), hell-raising politicos ("All The King's... More...
September 01, 2005:
Critical Consensus: "Gardener" Reaps Praise
This week we have a movie about international intrigue ("The Constant Gardener"), a mercenary ("The Transporter 2"), the problems of time travel ("A... More...
March 30, 2005:
Code Entertainment Goes "Gravedancing"
Variety brings news of the inaugural production from Code Entertainment: it's a horror flick called "The Gravedancers," and it's just about to wrap production in North... More...
June 14, 2001:
The style of action in KOD was heavily influenced by comments made during series of messages posted by fans on the Jet Li website forum, immediately after the release of Romeo Must Die in United States. ![]()
More...
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