Kiss of the Dragon Movie PosterOne of Jet Li’s most vicious and serious roles is also one of his best. Kiss of the Dragon is an absolute Martial Arts classic and I can definitely understand it being relatively high on the list.

Jet Li plays Liu Siu-jian, given the nick name ‘Johnny Boy’ by a corrupt cop named Richard.  Richard and Johnny boy meet as a means to work together to catch a Chinese Heroin smuggler entering France.

Upon entering ‘Johnny Boy’ is witness to Richard’s violent and questionable methods of law enforcement.  When the operation to bust this drug smuggler goes in a different direction, two prostitutes (under the control of Richard) take Mr Big (the Drug smuggler) to his Hotel room to ‘show him a good time’.

I don’t know what a good time is in France but apparently being stabbed to death fits under that umbrella.  Upon the beginning of the attack Johnny boys busts into the room to stop the murder, when he is followed up by Richard who shoots and kills Mr Big, and frames Johnny Boy.

So now Johnny boy is on the run and in hiding but proves to be too much for Richard and his corrupt force to handle with his superior martial arts abilities.

Johnny Boy also finds himself caught up with a young Prostitute from the murder (who didn’t take part) named Jessica (Bridget Fonda), and the two work together to find her daughter and free Johnny Boy’s name while making Richard pay for his crime.

Jet Li shapes up in Kiss of the Dragon

Very Dark & Serious for Jet Li

Most Jet Li films are little more light hearted than Kiss of the Dragon, especially his early Hong kong movies.  This movie showcases a very bleak and filthy side of France and the Police Force where a single high ranking officer controls his men in a brutal fashion with violence and on a ruthless hair trigger.

The drug references and the prostitutes, not to mention Li’s character himself really make a gritty atmosphere that manage to make the action and motivation behind Li’s fights really vicious and totally outstanding.

But like all good movies there’s an innocence that must be protected in the way of Jessica’s daughter, who must be rescued from Richard and brought back to her mother – freeing both Jessica and her daughter from the drug filled career of prostitution.

Jet Li vs Black Belts

The Action and Martial Arts

Another simple story to house some fantastic Martial Arts action.  But a big chunk of credit must go to the film’s atmosphere.  Straight away you’re shown some violent and ruthless crims working behind the scenes killing cops, forcing drugs on young women and setting the tone of the movie as anything but light hearted – you really want to see these guys get severely beaten and killed.

Jet Li’s fights are sharp, hard hitting and constant throughout the film leading up the finale, the action just keeps coming.  Jet Li really makes use of anything around him to make his fight scenes exciting using hot irons, weapons, billiard balls and impressively – acupuncture needles.

Johnny Boy’s acupuncture is shown quite often in this film and he even uses it as a way to disable some of his opponents – but only a few times, keeping the action primarily on his physical abilties.

Johnny Boy fights

The most entertaining use of his acupuncture needles relates directly to the title – The Kiss of the Dragon.  It’s a technique used at the end of the movie finish off Richard – by placing a needle in a ‘forbidden’area on the back of his neck – the blood rushes to his brain and stops there.  After some time it starts to come out of his nose, ears and eyes and he dies and excruciating and painful death – sweet, sweet revenge 🙂

Sharp, vicious and intelligent fights – worth a watch in my opinion!

On Blu Ray –

Region A (US & Canada)
Kiss of the Dragon on Blu-ray

Region B (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, etc)
Kiss of the Dragon on Blu-ray

On DVD –

Region 1 (US & Canada)
Kiss of the Dragon on DVD

Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Kiss of the Dragon on DVD

Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
Kiss of the Dragon on DVD 

25 Martial Arts Movies All Fans Must See - FREE


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