I've never really been a fan of martial arts films and I am one of the (probably) few people in the western world who still has not seen Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. So you can imagine that I was not really looking forward to seeing a film called Kiss of the Dragon. I'm glad I bothered. What a pleasant surprise. This film has two great aspects to it. First, it's set on location in Paris and it takes full advantage of that, using the various Parisian locations brilliantly. Second, it stars Jet Li, who, for want of a better phrase, is a kind of modern Bruce Lee. He may be small, but he's confident, and incredibly skilled in martial arts. While watching him perform in this film, I found myself thinking "I wish I could do that!".
The plot of Kiss of the Dragon is a little tricky to explain. Li's character is flown into Paris from China to help in some kind of official business that may involve drug trafficking. When a top-level Chinese official is murdered in his hotel room, Li's character is framed for the murder. In an attempt to clear his name, he steals a surveillance video tape, the only evidence that the perpetrator of the crime is in fact a crooked and very powerful cop, Inspector Jean-Pierre Richard. When Richard learns of this, he makes it his mission in life to recover the tape and kill Li's character whom he has affectionately nicknamed 'Johnny boy'. He manages to get the tape back, but Johnny uses amazing martial arts to evade capture — something he continues to do throughout the film.
The evil Inspector Richard is involved not only in drugs, but also in prostitution. He is holding hostage the daughter of a prostitute called Jessica, played by Bridget Fonda who was hiding in the toilet when the murder was committed. Johnny and Jessica meet up again later, and she realises that the only way to get her daughter back alive is to trust Johnny to help her. Now Johnny must find Richard, retrieve the tape and save Jessica's daughter before one of Richard's many henchmen catches up with him.
Kiss of the Dragon is a powerful and extremely violent film, but it's not afraid to slow down and take its time with the sequences that involve the relationship between Johnny and Jessica. In fact, its ability to savour some very well acted moments prevents the film from become another one of those fast, furious, mindless action films aimed at people with no attention-span. Kiss of the Dragon rises far above that level to be a very enjoyable film, expertly acted, directed and edited.
The film's name refers to a lethal and forbidden acupuncture technique which is probably not real but what do I know? Will Johnny boy use this technique on his enemies? And what will happen to them if he does? I'll leave you to find out for yourselves.
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