Kiss of the Dragon
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| Kiss of the Dragon | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Chris Nahon |
| Produced by | Luc Besson Steve Chasman Happy Walters |
| Written by | Jet Li Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen |
| Starring | Jet Li Bridget Fonda Tcheky Karyo Max Ryan |
| Music by | Craig Armstrong Chino XL |
| Cinematography | Thierry Arbogast |
| Editing by | Marco Cave |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Buena Vista International |
| Release date(s) | 23 November 2001 |
| Running time | 99 mins |
| Country | France |
| Language | English French Mandarin |
| IMDb profile | |
Kiss of the Dragon is a 2001 action/thriller film, directed by Chris Nahon and starring Jet Li. The film is notable because most of the action sequences were done with little use of CGI or wire work. The only use of CGI and wire work was in the hotel scene where Jet Li roundhouse kicked a snooker ball at the chauffer's head. The director even claims to have had to slow a scene down as the combatants were moving too fast for the camera.
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[edit] Plot
Liu Siu-jian, a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent and assigned to Paris to help apprehend a Chinese gangster involved in heroin smuggling. However, Liu is just a scapegoat for Jean-Pierre Richard, a corrupt and violent French police inspector who brutally kills the gangster; framing Liu for murder in the process.
Liu keeps a low profile while trying to escape, and he meets up with Jessica Kamen, an American woman who was forced into prostitution by Richard. Jessica is able to prove Siu-jian's innocence, but inspector Richard anticipates this and kidnaps Jessica's young daughter, Isabel. With no other choice, Liu launches a counterattack on his pursuers, and combats them in an attempt to clear his name.
[edit] Origin of Title
The title "Kiss of the Dragon" is derived from one of the last scenes in the movie, in which Liu punctures Richard in the back of the neck with an acupuncture needle at a "very forbidden" certain point. The puncture itself is called "kiss of the dragon," and it paralyzes Richard and traps all the blood in his body in his head. This causes Richard to bleed, using Liu's words, "from your nose, from your ears, even from your eyes" before dying painfully.
This method of killing, delivering a needle into the back of the head to cause paralysis and death (though without the hemorrhage), was featured in the climactic scene of the 1970s science fiction novel "The Face", by Jack Vance. In this novel, however, the needle bore a poison which did the work.
It was also referenced in another martial arts movie, DOA: Dead or Alive, when character Princess Kasumi pierces her needle in the exact spot of the villain, Donovan. He, too, was paralyzed, but perishes in an explosion.
Tagline: Kiss Fear Goodbye.
[edit] Cast
- Jet Li — Liu Siu-jian
- Bridget Fonda — Jessica Kamen
- Tchéky Karyo — Jean-Pierre Richard
- Max Ryan — Lupo
- Ric Young — Mister Big
- Burt Kwouk — Uncle Tai
- Laurence Ashley — Aja
- Cyril Raffaelli — Twin
- Didier Azoulay — Twin
- John Forgeham — Max
- Paul Barrett — Pilot
- Colin Prince — Lupo's Assistant
- Vincent Glo — Pluto
- Vincent Wong — Minister Tang
- Kentaro Sato — Chen
[edit] Box Office
Kiss of the Dragon opened at 2,025 North American theatres on July 6, 2001 to an opening weekend gross of US $13,304,027 ($6,569 per screen). It went on to a total North American gross of US $36,845,124.
Its total worldwide box office gross is US $64,437,847.
