Liu Jian (Jet Li) travels to Paris from his native China to stop a drug kingpin and get to the bottom of his illegal doings in France. A top cop in his home country, Liu utilizes his amazing Martial Arts abilities to bring the baddies to justice. But he meets his match in the super-evil Richard (Karyo), who commands an army of goons, who in turn keep a stable of his prostitutes - all the while leading a double life as the head of the Vice Squad in Paris. As Liu tries to keep his bearings while in this foreign land, fighting Richard's goons at every turn, he reluctantly teams up with one of his prostitutes, Jessica (Fonda) in the search for answers. It seems Richard is keeping Jessica's daughter locked in an orphanage as leverage so she won't spill the beans on his many, many illegal activities. His criminal empire seemed impenetrable...but he never had to contend with Liu Jian! Will justice be served, and will Jessica get her daughter back? Find out today...Kiss of the Dragon is fast-paced fun, with a lot of the typically-excellent Martial Arts Jet Li is known for. It has a lot of lively, quick fights and is loaded with very impressive stunts. It's all very cool and slick. It has a nice, professional look and has tons of action - as well as a likable hero and a very evil baddie. Just those things alone put it head and shoulders above a lot of other movies of this kind. There is minimal CGI and wirework - it's mostly all-real fights (with a couple of exceptions, of course). We appreciated the idea of Liu's "acupuncture bracelet", and the fact that he has some knock-down, drag-out fights with guys that resemble Street Fighter characters Guile and Balrog. The Guile guy is even seen reading a "Where's Waldo?" book at one point. We know this came out in 2001, but if that's not 90's, we don't know what is. Of course, all of this is highly reminiscent of The Replacement Killers (1998) of a few years previously. While that was a Hollywood vehicle for Chow Yun-Fat, this is for Jet Li. Instead of teaming up with Mira Sorvino, here it's Bridget Fonda, and instead of Jurgen Prochnow as the baddie, here it's Karyo. Needless to say, if you liked one, you will like the other. We also welcomed the fact that it was really Paris we were seeing, not Bulgaria masquerading as Paris, or some green-screen fakery. Nowhere was this more evident than on the boat fight scene, which is clearly on the Seine, and you cannot fake what they did. Maybe we've watched too many Seagal movies, but we loved the change of scenery. As with Contract Killer (1998), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), and Romeo Must Die (2000), the filmmakers have decided to pair Jet Li with rap beats. In this case we have not one, but TWO songs by Mystikal. While it certainly places the movie in a particular time period, we kind of wish it wasn't Mystikal. What, were Jadakiss and Silkk tha Shocker songs unavailable? Also, it should be noted that Richard, the bad guy, is so evil, he keeps a turtle in his desk drawer. Another thing we noticed was that in the scene where Liu and Jessica go to the orphanage, the floor and room number where the daughter can be found is "B13". District B13 (2004) is also a France-set Martial Arts extravaganza, and a Luc Besson production. This must have some significance to him. It was just a little thing we noticed. Kiss of the Dragon is an entertaining ride that is well worth watching. The great Jet Li is in top form and a pleasant time will be had by all who view it.

The picture is full of tumultuous sequences with frenetic action , surprises , fierce combats and groundbreaking struggles . Classic as well as impressive Chop-Socky in which wild fighting scenes provide an overwhelming view of Jet Li skills . It has lots of fights , as well staged as Jet Li's Hong Kong films . It is set in Paris where a betrayed intelligence officer (Jet Li) enlists the aid of a prostitute (Bridget Fonda) to prove his innocence from a deadly conspiracy while returning a favor to her . Li against time to clear his name and rescue a junkie whore and her daughter . When the secret mission goes wrong he is framed for murder by a nasty as well and amusing villain officer , Insp. Richard (Tchéky Karyo) ; as the Chinese agent will face off a bunch of heinous henchmen across threatening streets of Paris . Then Li has to go on the run pursued by corrupt cops , being his only ally the mistreated call-girl and an old Chinese shopkeeper (Bur Kwouk) .This moving Chop-Socky displays drama , action-packed , thrills , and wild fighting images . It is an action-filled and violent film , being utterly filmed in Paris . Li shows awesome skills , as he hits , punches and kicks most of Paris hoodlums into tiny pieces . The battle scenes are sliced up by means of flashy quick cuts that sometimes reduce Jet Li's extraordinary athleticism to a little more than the backdrop to a video clip . An exciting art martial movie in which , once again , an oriental Chinesse super cop is sent loan to tackle crime in the West . The style of action in this movie 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 (2000) in the United States , the fans wanted more realistic fighting as in Jet Li's movie Jet Li's Fist of Legend (1994) . The rousing fights include deadly use of fists , feet and palms ; being perfectly staged by expert Corey Yeun . Fights , attacks and exciting combats very well staged by great fighters , in fact , here are only seven wires used in the entire movie, the only scenes involving wire work were when Jet Li had to jump up to kick the pool ball and when Cyril Raffaelli performs his one-and-a-quarter backwards somersault-kick ; the result is a strong entry for art martial buffs . Actors made their owns stunts ; some of the players got injured and to had to be hospitalized during the shooting , some of them suffered mild concussions during filming, after being struck several times during fighting scenes . The only scenes that used CGI are when Jet Li falls down the laundry drop with CG flames surrounding him and in the hotel scene when Jet Li kicks the ball from the pool table . Amid the glamour and grandeur of the scenarios , including luxury hotel , is developed an intrigue about women exploitation and dealing with a Chinese agent who attempts to restore his name . Colorful and luxurious cinematography by Thierry Arbogast . Adequate musical score fitting to action by Craig Armstrong . This moving film was lavishly co-produced and written by the great producer/director Luc Besson and well realized by Chris Nahon . Director Chris Nahon had to slow down the fight scene between Jet Li and Cyril Raffaelli because they were moving too fast for the camera. Filmmaker Nahon establishes his signature style of kinetically-paced story-telling through sumptuous imagery , leading to international critical acclaim . Chris Nahon was born in France , he is a good director and writer, known for Empire of the wolves (2005) , Blood: the last vampire (2009) and Kiss of the dragon (2001) . Rating : Better than average art martial movie . Worthwhile watching .

Liu Jian (Jet Li) is a Chinese secret agent arriving in Paris to take down a Chinese drug lord. His French contact is vice squad leader Inspector Richard (Tchéky Karyo). Only Richard is dirty and tries to frame him for the drug lord's killing. Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda) is an American farm girl forced into prostitution by Richard. He's holding her daughter in an orphanage. Liu Jian managed to grab the video tape showing Richard shooting the drug lord with his confiscated gun. Then by chance, he runs into Jessica again.This is a Luc Besson production and it has a lot of his touches. Bridget Fonda is back and they even use the laundry chute. It's got some fun Besson-like action. It helps a lot to have Jet Li fighting. The acupuncture needles are a little bit much. The fight in the office with the Twins is amazing. Tchéky Karyo is great at being the villain. The biggest problem I have is the big coincidence. It's beyond ridiculous and rings such a false note. With such a big city, she's hooking right in front of the store.

I'm about to do something I've never done. I'm going to "review" this film after having turned if off about 15 minutes in.You don't have to ignore this review; just read it while keeping in mind the caveat that I turned "Kiss of the Dragon" off, 15 minutes in.It's simple really: 15 minutes in, I had no idea where the flick was headed. Now, the usual retort is to point out that a lot of flicks do that: They defer spelling out the underlying key plot points quite a ways into the flick. So why do I refuse to cut KotD the kind of slack that is due to a slow-burn sizzler storyline?Because KotD doesn't sizzle. In fact, one gets the sense that Besson is fully aware of the need to create tension of one kind or another in order to sustain things while the viewer gathers the data which will eventually pay off in a stunner revelation. But the data stream is... well, I was about to say bizarre... but bizarre is good! In fact, it might be a good idea at this point to mention his La Femme Nikita (the film). It sustains for a good, long while until the data is gathered because the leading action is bizarre *enough*. There's an amazing firehose of bizarrerie that keeps you alert and pondering, until the air clears and all the necessary pieces fall into place; well, at least, enough of the pieces to apprise you of the fact that you're watching an actual story.KotD opens with an unsatisfying, disconnected cubistic salad of cloak/daggerish visual and verbal cues, gangster scenarios, a hookers/john sequence that floats in an utter void, and a weird, utterly inexplicable 180 degree turnabout in the relationship between the crime boss and the new recruit--10 minutes into their relationship--which can't even be explained away as a spurious psychopathic lark on the part of the crime boss, let alone as a natural concomitant of the recruit's actions.I suppose that, if I'd hung with it, I'd've been able to metabolize that salad in some fashion. But, 15 minutes in, my question to myself was, "Why bother?"In the stuff I describe above, I don't mention Jet Li's lovely martial arts moves. And I left them out for a reason; because I wanted to preserve them from the disreputable notion that Besson thought they'd suffice to keep the viewer's attention.I think reviewing the first 15 minutes of this flick was worth doing-- there was so much to say!--so I did it. I hope you understand.