Jet Li. Here we have a fabulously talented martial artist, a man who knows his craft. I'll admit, I haven't seen many of his finer films, but I've seen all of his North American releases. One can't really count Lethal Weapon 4, because it wasn't a martial arts action flick. So, really, we have two: Romeo Must Die, and Kiss of the Dragon.
Ugh.
There's really no better way to describe KOTD. It's not a good movie. Oh, sure, the fights kick ass up and down the street, but the movie itself isn't all that great. You wants I should explain? Coitainly.
The story itself is decent enough, for an action movie. Jet Li's character, a top-notch Chinese police officer, goes into Paris to take care of some sort of drug smuggling between China and France. In the end, he's framed for killing the Chinese druglord in town. Who is he framed by? Why, the top French police officer, of course. The only thing that can clear his name is the surveillance camera video that he has grabbed on the way out.
Sounds decent enough, right? Amazing Chinese cop is framed and has to clear his name. Enter some political intrigue, maybe some more Chinese druglords and mafia kind of things, and you've got a great action movie, right? Right.
Sadly, KOTD doesn't go that route. Rather, Li's got much of the Parisian police force after him, all because he's got that one little cassette. But even that would've been fine enough, except for one thing: The hooker.
Here we introduce Bridget Fonda's character, a prostitute who has had her daughter taken from her and is being sold on the street by the crooked French cop, who keeps his control over her via empty promises and illegal drugs that he forcibly injects into her (i didn't much care for that scene). Suffice it to say, though, that her character... well, she wasn't needed. She was whiny and talkative, and only served to slow Li down. She introduced a plot into the movie which changed the entire thing entirely: instead of the flick being about Li clearing his name, it's about the two of them freeing her child.
So, yes, the hooker character is basically pointless. One hooker they could have used to good effect, well, dies in the beginning (she's got this wicked dragon tattoo on her back, but again they skipped over any kind of political or criminal intrigue in the movie in favour of the save-my-child subplot).
Is it safe to say that the only problem with this movie is the story? No. It's also Bridget Fonda's prostitute. She's just plain annoying, and she detracts from every scene she's in.
The fights are amazing, though. Five times as good as those from Romeo Must Die, and much more satisfying, too. They're also brutal and vicious, and lightning quick. The only qualm I've got is that they're filmed too closely so that it's hard to keep track of them and marvel at Li's skill. Also, the fight between him and the black boxer could have been longer. Otherwise... wow.
So, is it a good movie? Not really, but it's decent. And it's better than the other action movies out this year, mind you, but the story is lacking, and Bridget Fonda's character is just plain annoying.
But the fights kick ass.