Kiss of the Dragon

Sometimes it's a relief to watch a bad film and review it, because bad films are fun to skewer in print (for a near-perfect example of this read Stephen Hunter's review of Speed 2). Nearly everything about this film is laughable, and I well recognize that action films can in general be snickered at because they don't focus on story or characters or have thought-provoking themes. However, in this case, the filmmakers profess an understanding of the importance of those elements, which makes the film rather sad instead of laughable. OK, so, good Chinese cop (Jet Li) goes to France to assist in a police investigation helmed by a corrupt French cop (Tchéky Karyo) and gets involved with an American hooker (Bridget Fonda) whose child is held hostage by the French cop. These are not naturally bad actors. I would suggest watching them in High Risk, La Femme Nikita and Singles, respectively, since they are all painfully out of place and/or overacting in this film. Now, the action sequences are fantastic (watch for the cue ball and the guard house scenes), but how can they not be? Li is a master of kung-fu and has one of the best action directors choreographing his fight sequences. I guess I just have trouble sitting through films in which everything but the action itself makes me want to wince. Case in point, the director seems to love shooting sequences with either extraneous shots (why do we need to see Li's jacket fall to the floor in the big 40-against-one scene?) or without explanatory shots that would make the sequence run smoothly (how can we know where Li is positioned in the laundry chute?). And, the implausibility factor is notched way up as well, since Karyo and company perform shoot-em-up's all over Paris, particularly in crowded restaurants, alternately gunning down and beating up civilians. And his bosses don't seem to notice that perhaps he's not the hero cop everyone thinks he is? Gimme a break.

year: 2001
length: 98 min.
rating: 1.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271027/combined