'There is time for action and time for
diplomacy' has quickly became one of my favorite movie quotes. This quote is
exactly the description of Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon - action action and
action to the max. While the action scenes is still not up to HK standards, it
was a huge par above Li's Romeo Must Die and The One. There are many fights,
and right from the very beginning, tension arises to the max. The opening
scene at the hotel and probably makes in the first 20 minutes, is one of the
best mind-blowing sequence in Hollywood Action movies history, however, the
movie fails to live up to the expectation set by the terrific and almost
perfect beginning. There are many fights after that, and a notable one is when
Li takes on a whole karate class, which was clearly a familiar scene from
Jet's HK classic - Fist of Legend. Action director Corey Yuen who is capable
of works like Fong Sai Yuk, is definitely being edited of his direction which
resulted in Hollywood-like action film. Although Jet Li shows quite a lot of
presence in this movie, it still does not really show his talents both as a
wushu champion or as a action star. However, Kiss of the Dragon is one of the
few action movies that does not stop and for action fans - it is exactly what
was required. For Li's HK fan will certainly be disappointed, but still is by
far his best Hollywood movie to date.
79.5%
=