Post by ronnierocketago on Feb 5, 2009 18:55:04 GMT
KISS OF THE DRAGON (2001) - ***
"The plot has been described as hard to follow. It is simplicity itself, if all you want is a scorecard of the heroes and villains. It admittedly gets murky when it comes to motivation and logic, but never mind: In a movie where the physical actions border on the impossible, why expect the story to be reasonable?" - Roger Ebert
Why is it that whenever a pool table pops up in an action movie, it'll always be the centerpiece of a big fight? Whatever it be Seagal using cue sticks to break wrists or Chuck Norris just delivering a simple brutal beatdown, this genre rule is old and it is also very true. You know how an orange in THE GODFATHER series always forewarned death? Well, the pool table in action cinema always promises an ass-kicking. With KISS OF THE DRAGON, Jet Li gives his own unique twist to this tradition in killing a thug by kicking up a billard ball into the air, then kicking it again, and nails the poor bastard right between the eyes. Ouch.
What's unique is that one CGI shot is only one of three action sequences in KISS that briefly used FX, with the last needing wiring only because the stunt man was kicking too fast for the camera. You don't hear that complaint everyday. Remember those old days when filmmakers had to actually have their actors fight without computer or wires or shakey cam or ADD-inducing editing to cheat? Apparently, Jet Li's fans did for they had bitched on Li's website about his digital fight-aid in his Hollywood star vehicle debut ROMEO MUST DIE, and KISS (with the premise penned by Li) came about as a result.
Writer/producer Luc Besson with his slick shot B-actioneers seem to understand this taste for old school action cinema, even flawed as such projects are, all which somehow always tie back to his native France. It's a pity that he's too busy with such pictures instead of bothering to direct good movies anymore. Remember LEON or THE FIFTH ELEMENT? Me neither. Though I (shockingly) haven't seen TAKEN yet, apparently Besson finally jumped onto the BOURNE action cinema bandwagon, which is a pity. I guess TRANSPORTER 4 will be now shakey cam too, no?
Now with all such Besson productions, the wafer-thin "story" is irrelevant, simply an excuse for alot of fights, shootouts, and car chases....which is fine with me. What I do like is his random weird quirky Franco-touches, like the opening shot. For a Jet Li martial arts flick, what would you think it be? No idea? Try a dead rabbit by an airport runway, which the camera then pulls up to catch Li's incoming flight to Paris. Also, how about the villain (Tcheky Karyo) owning a pet turtle for no particular reason at all?
Seriously, we need more movies where people keep turtles in their work desks.
Anyway, Chinese secret agent Li is in Paris to help police inspector Karyo entrap a Triad mobster on a drug sting. A moment I've always laughed at is that gangster supposedly having rough and nasty sex with a hooker, and yet they never take their clothes off. I mean was Besson shooting for a PG-13 rating here? If so, he failed and thus we get ridiculous dry humping in a R-rated movie. What a waste.
Now if you've seen enough action movies, you know what happens from here: The criminal gets assassinated, the whole operation established in the first place to frame Li for that murder because Karyo also happens to be the heroin kingpin of Paris. Li goes on the run, no one to trust, and along the way to prove his innocence, he kicks a whole lot of ass.
KISS is routine by the numbers, at times in danger of becoming incredibly too bland for my taste. There was a great idea worth exploring that KISS never fully exploited, which is how Li is trapped thousands and thousands of miles away from home, hindered by the language and cultural barrier. I mean remember FRANTIC when the American Harrison Ford had to fight the French tongue as much as the crooks who kidnapped his wife? Well FRANTIC at least sorta utilized such a theme, but KISS doesn't.
A nice concept though exploited in KISS is how Li is frisked early on at a hotel bathroom. They take his gun and passport, but find a supply of accupuncture needles strapped to his wrist, which they let him keep. So yes, Li uses those strategically-placed needles on the neck of people to either stun or temporarily paralyze them. But also if he wants to, he uses the "Kiss of the Dragon," which causes victims to fatally bleed out. And you thought that title was just random grabbed out of someone's ass like SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE was, right?
Now I love action cinema, I really do, but KISS is one of those movies of which you go primarily to watch the fights, and they're good here. I liked how Li kicks a guy into a giant dryer, locking the door on him, Also when he's trapped in a laundry shoot between a fire below him, and a henchman on top of him trying to apply pressure for him to fall and become extra crispy. I won't spoil how he uses a grenade to escape this dilemma, but suffice to say we get the best only-legs-left-over-from-fire-explosion maybe since THE KEEP. He even later twist a guy's gun to pull the trigger at his own balls. Yikes. But my favorite is his finale duel with blonde twin martial artists:
Yeah you gotta love Li kicking that button to close the door, and hitting it harder again to hasten it. That and him pulling a Kevin Nash by powerbombing that dude on his neck. Who knew such a little guy had enough strength to make that nasty crack? That still doesn't explain why for a supposed spy, Li makes some real stupid mistakes like opening a gun locker at a train station in front of the guards, or forgetting to grab a vital cassette tape at a boat? Mate, I get that you kick ass, and I respect and admire your mastery, but at times you're a few tracks short of a mile if you get my drift buddy.
Now what I don't get with KISS is why Karyo and Bridget Fonda are in this movie. Both actors are better than this junk, but they do make their cardboard archetypes alot better than they should have been I guess. Karyo especially has that nice Franco-smugness which Americans love to endlessly despise about, and he's got two great asshole moments. First is when he presents this seemingly open-and-shut case against to the Chinese Embassy, only for them to tell him afterwards how the evidence chain makes no sense because Li is this immaculate supercop or whatever, and Karyo's face when he realizes how his perfect plan blows up in his face is great. Second is when after killing a guy, he orders a wreath for the stiff's funeral, which he pays by stealing money from the corpse's wallet at the morgue. Now that's fucking cold.
As for Fonda, what happened to her career anyway? She's less powerful than her father Peter Fonda, which is actually kinda sad. Regardless of what I wrote above, she still might very well still be the weakest link in KISS. She tries so hard to make her prostitute sidekick/love interest be much more than it really is or ever can be, what with endless whining about her kid held hostage by the bad guys. Yeah, she's walking exposition. Hell, her whole diatribe at Li in the hospital nearly stopped the picture dead in terms of that testosterone narrative energy that action cinema depends upon. Look honey, you got shot and he got your ass to the doctors in time. He'll get the darn kid back because he's Jet fucking Li, he's a safer bet than Treasury bonds, so shut the hell up. Besides, Danny Elfman is still a lucky man you lucky bastard.
I did like that scene where she tried to pee like a dog. You bitch.