What had looked like a dream to many French film makers and a nightmare to more snobbish critics in 1980s was achieved years later thanks to producer and director Luc Besson. After helping redefine French cinema with Cinema du look movement, he groomed whole new generation of film makers more interested in scoring big at the box office than winning prestigious festival awards. One of those film makers is Chris Nahon, whose 2001 action film Kiss of the Dragon became huge international hit.
Protagonist, played by Jet Li, is Liu Jian, Chinese police inspector from Shanghai, who enjoys reputation one of his country’s most experienced and the most efficient law men. He is sent to Paris to conduct arrest and extradition of Chinese mob boss Mr. Big (played by Ric Young). The actual arrest is going to be made by elite squad of French police led by Inspector Jean-Pieree Richard (played by Tcheky Karyo) who turns out to be a racist. But bigotry of his colleague stops being the Liu Jian’s main concern during the operation. When Liu Jian comes to hotel room where Mr. Big is having quality time with two prostitutes, it turns out that Richard has some other things on his mind. Mr. Big is killed in cold blood and the evidence planted in order to make Liu Jian as perpetrator. Liu Jian is suddenly forced to use his martial arts and other skills in order to stay alive and somehow avoid Richard and his men in the city he knows nothing about. Thanks to fortunate set of circumstances, he stumbles into Jessica Kamen (played by Bridget Fonda), one of two prostitutes who witnessed the actual killing. After some consideration, she decides to help Liu Jian clear his name.
After Romeo Must Die was another attempt by Jet Li, famous Chinese martial artist and action film star, to prove his worth in Western cinema. Besson’s production, which is ethos of “outHollywooding Hollywood” and warm embrace of globalisation, looked like a very good step in that direction. Li has worked very hard for this film, insisting that action scenes be as realistic as possible, all but abandoning wire-work characteristic for Hong Kong cinema, as well as CGI that was creeping into action films at the time. Li’s efforts are truly impressive and there are some very effective action scenes in Kiss of the Dragon. Li’s athletic skills, however, can’t hide his relative lack of acting ability and, more importantly, very weak and uninspired script by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. The characters are one-dimensional and even a great actor like Tcheky Karyo can’t prevent his villainous character from turning into caricature. Bridget Fonda, on the other hand, puts an extra effort in her role, but her role of expat street walker looks a little bit too glamorous to be taken seriously. This, together with complete lack of humour, prevents Kiss of the Dragon from reaching its full potential.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417 Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
