Kiss of the Dragon (2001)

Kiss of the Dragon (Le Baiser mortel du dragon in French) is a 2001 French action thriller film directed by Chris Nahon, written and produced by French filmmaker Luc Besson, and starring an international cast of Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, and Tchéky Karyo. Li purposefully wanted to take a realistic approach to the fight scenes, and forgo the CGI and wire work that had been popularized by films such as Charlie’s Angels and The Matrix. It is notable as most of the action sequences did not use CGI or wire work; only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work.

Plot.

Liu Jian (Jet Li), a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent to Paris to help the French authorities apprehend Chinese mob boss Mr. Big (Ric Young), who is involved in heroin smuggling. He meets Inspector Jean-Pierre Richard (Tchéky Karyo), a corrupt and violent police detective, at a hotel. Richard tricks Liu into believing he is simply providing reconnaissance of a meet involving Mr. Big. During the operation, Mr. Big is introduced to two female prostitutes, one being Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda), an American woman, who he takes back to his room for sex. While Liu and the rest are watching through the surveillance camera, Mr. Big kicks everyone out except for the two women. After pretending to seduce him, the other prostitute stabs Mr. Big. Overseeing the events from another room, Liu rushes in and subdues the prostitute. He then attempts to call for help to save Mr. Big’s life, but Richard enters shortly after, shooting Mr. Big and the woman with Liu’s police-issued handgun, framing Liu for both murders. Jessica hides in the bathroom during the commotion.

Realizing he has been set up, Liu manages to escape from the hotel with a surveillance tape showing Richard shooting Mr. Big. After the events, Chinese liaisons are sent to France to investigate the matter, as Richard makes Liu the primary suspect. However, the liaisons do not believe the story Richard provides. Liu meets with one of them on a ferry and passes him the tape, revealing the truth. However, Richard’s men spot them, and the liaison is assassinated. Liu is then forced to flee from a horde of cops and GIGN commandos. After Liu escapes, he is forced to maintain a low profile.

Kiss Of The Dragon: Jet Li And Luc Besson’s Martial Arts Masterpiece.

While his situation worsens, he meets Jessica, whose daughter was kidnapped by Richard to force her into prostitution. Liu discovers that Jessica was the second prostitute at the hotel during the night of Mr. Big’s murder. He realizes she can prove his innocence, but she refuses to go without retrieving her daughter, Isabel (Isabelle Duhauvelle). Liu decides the tape would provide the best evidence, and sends Jessica to Richard’s office to steal the tape. Jessica manages to get the tape, then Liu and Jessica head to an orphanage where Isabel is kept. However, Richard anticipates this move, and ambushes the duo at the orphanage. During their escape, Jessica is shot in the chest. Liu manages to get her to the hospital in time and leaves for the police station, driven to retrieve her daughter.

Production.

The director filmed most of the action sequences without CGI or wire work; only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work. Wire work was added to one of the last fight sequences between Li and Cyril Raffaelli, in order to add clarity to Raffaelli’s kicks, as he was moving too fast for the camera. Nahon had to slow down this fight scene, as both Li and Raffaelli were moving too quickly to be captured clearly at normal recording speed. The French version of the film is notably different from others; it contains a zoomed-out shot of Tcheky Karyo shooting one of his henchmen in the head, resulting in a fountain of blood erupting. This passage was cropped from most international versions of the movie.

Reception.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, who thought violence overwhelmed it at the expense of the story and even a true portrayal of martial arts. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on reviews from 108 critics. The site’s consensus states “A formulaic actioner that’s sure to please action fans. Those looking for plot, believability, or character development will have difficulty finding them.” On Metacritic it has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 26 critic reviews, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and wrote: “I like the movie on a simple physical level. There is no deeper meaning and no higher skill involved; just professional action, well-staged and filmed with a certain stylistic elegance.” The film is based on a story by Li, and is one of Fonda’s final on-screen appearances before her retirement from acting.

Who’s Richer Jet LI or Jackie Chan houses, cars, jets, yachts

Box office.

Kiss of the Dragon opened at 2,025 North American theaters on July 6, 2001 to an opening weekend gross of $13,304,027 ($6,569 per screen). It went on to a total North American gross of $36,845,124, making the film to be very profitable for 20th Century Fox (which only paid slightly more than $12.5 million to acquire the distribution rights in North America and some other foreign territories). Its total worldwide box office gross is $64,437,847. The film was set to be the first film in the United States to receive an R-rating to be available on Disney+ on April 29, 2022, but eventually the decision was dropped, and the film will instead be streaming in Canada only.

Cast:

Jet Li as Inspector Liu “Johnny” Jian
Bridget Fonda as Jessica Kamen
Tchéky Karyo as Jean-Pierre Richard
Ric Young as “Mr. Big” Sung
Burt Kwouk as Uncle Tai
Max Ryan as Lupo
Kentaro as Chen
Laurence Ashley as Aja
Cyril Raffaelli as Twin
Didier Azoulay as Twin
John Forgeham as Inspector Max
Paul Barrett as Pilot
Colin Prince as Lupo’s Assistant
Vincent Glo as “Pluto”
Vincent Wong as Minister Tang
Isabelle Duhauvelle as Isabel Kamen
Affif Ben Badra as Lupo’s Henchman