Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
53
Alice in Wonderland
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
25
Bounty Hunter, The
43
Brooklyn's Finest
55
Christmas Carol, A
31
Cop Out
55
Crazies, The
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
56
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
61
Green Zone
xx
Hot Tub Time Machine
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
32
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
39
Our Family Wedding
47
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
69
Redbelt
40
Remember Me
31
Repo Men
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
47
She's Out of My League
63
Shutter Island
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
34
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
43
Wolfman, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
67
3 Idiots
47
44 Inch Chest
82
Ajami![]()
71
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
73
Amreeka
75
Art of the Steal, The
43
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
49
Blood Done Sign My Name
xx
Bluebeard
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
52
Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
67
Children of Invention
53
Chloe
68
City Island
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
83
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
51
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
57
Defendor
61
Delta
68
Departures
64
District 13: Ultimatum
72
Easier with Practice
xx
Eclipse, The
85
Education, An![]()
61
Exploding Girl, The
70
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
52
Formosa Betrayed
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
xx
Ghost Town
77
Ghost Writer, The
69
Girl on the Train, The
75
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The
47
Good Guy, The
76
Greenberg
35
Happy Tears
68
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
20
Harlem Aria
76
IMAX: Hubble 3D
11
Killing Jar, The
52
Killing Kasztner
xx
Kimjongilia
41
Last New Yorker, The
76
Last Station, The
47
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
71
Lourdes
73
Me and Orson Welles
77
Messenger, The
79
Mid-August Lunch
57
Missing Person, The
76
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
80
Mother
50
My Name is Khan
85
Neil Young Trunk Show![]()
49
Nine
67
North Face
64
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
40
Phyllis and Harold
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
74
Prodigal Sons
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
90
Prophet, A![]()
76
Red Riding Trilogy, The
65
Runaways, The
32
Saint John of Las Vegas
83
Secret of Kells, The![]()
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
57
Severe Clear
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
35
Shutterbug
77
Single Man, A
76
Still Bill
34
Stolen
xx
Suicide Girls Must Die!
52
Tales from the Script
74
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
47
To Die for Tano
19
To Save a Life
63
Toe to Toe
69
Town Called Panic, A
54
Until the Light Takes Us
60
Videocracy
84
Vincere![]()
66
Waiting for Armageddon
45
White on Rice
82
White Ribbon![]()
xx
White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, The
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Yellow Handkerchief, The
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Kiss of the Dragon
EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 34 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Luc Besson
Robert Mark Kamen
Jet Li (story)
Directed by: Chris Nahon
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 6, 2001
DVD: January 22, 2002
Running Time: 98 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: R for strong violence, language, some sexuality and drug content
Starring Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, Tchéky Karyo, and Max Ryan
Jet Li plays Liu Jiuan, China's top government agent, who arrives in Paris from Shanghai to carry out a sensitive, top-secret mission. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site Official Jet Li Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
It is not merely a thriller but a shocker. It will separate hard-core Jet Li followers from the fair-weather fans.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Patterson
The inventive, often comically horrible fight set pieces will have you standing on your seat cheering like a Viking, and the result is a supremely kinetic and amusing guilty pleasure.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Jessica Winter
A veteran of commercials and music videos, director Chris Nahon crowds out too much of the sprawling combat gymnastics, but his film doesn't lack for luxuriously seedy ambience --his Paris is a retro-futurist sewer.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Jet Li and Bridget Fonda form a terrific bond in this action film. And the choreography adds a nice kick, too.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Charles Savage
The Hollywood action genre, sliding into a lazy dependence on computer-generated fakery, needs this authentic kick to the head delivered by Jet Li.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
This is all grimy, guy on guy fun, right down to the fevered, bad English dialogue.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Kiss of the Dragon is a straight-ahead star vehicle for the trim and terse Li, whose steady gaze and fist-flying ways are tempered by a gentlemanly mien.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
I like the movie on a simple physical level. There is no deeper meaning and no higher skill involved; just professional action, well-staged and filmed with a certain stylistic elegance.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. Li will come out of Kiss of the Dragon smelling like a rose; the combat couldn't be better. But next time around, he should leave the script to more capable hands.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
Slick, straight-ahead action-thriller that marks a small step back and two bounding leaps forward for toplined Jet Li.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
The non-fighting parts of Kiss of the Dragon are, despite the presence of co-star Bridget Fonda, completely non-compelling. It's a proud convention in films like this for fans to mark time during exposition, waiting patiently for the action to start up again, and Kiss is very much in that tradition.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
This is a garish, rocket-fueled slice of popcorn mayhem, and the perfect antidote to this summer's limp action lineup.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
The action scenes, including one on that tourist sightseeing staple, the Bateau Mouche, were directed by Cory Yuen with some creative touches, including a hail of chopsticks during a fight in a restaurant kitchen.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
What goes on when Li isn't fighting the bad guys isn't worth discussing; it's that stupid.
USA Today Mike Clark
Seeing this movie won't get you into MIT, but it's passable fun.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Andy Klein
Will probably please hard-core action fans who have become inured to plot idiocies, but it remains a terrible waste of talent.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The story is formulaic, but this brutal, fast-paced thriller makes excellent use of Li's martial arts prowess.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
It's one thing for a script to set the framework for an action film -- it's quite another when the script gets in the way.
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
The new sexism -- the old sexism plus the idea that everything is ironic -- is getting old.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Mark Jenkins
Too bad the filmmakers -- and here's where the American part comes in -- decided the movie had to have some heart, too.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
The most dispiriting thing about Kiss of the Dragon, is that it's another example of how Western filmmakers fall on their faces when they try to evoke the feel of Hong Kong action films.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Offers just about a kill a minute, but less than a thrill a minute.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
Li is powerless when the film slows to a crawl to provide a little drama.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Mr. Li is a master not only of martial arts, but of composure; no one does nothing better. The film itself is no great shakes.
Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
As though fatalistically compelled, all three leads self-destruct: Li is as flat, colorless, and stiff as a panel of Sheetrock, Karyo plays his every syllable in overdrive, and Fonda seems trapped in the midst of a failed screen test for Pretty Woman II.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 34 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Finfrosk gave it a 10:
This is one of the coolest action-movies ever made. Never have I seen such incredibly cool fighting, and without computer-effects! The fighting-scenes are better than in The Matrix. Jet Li is the Bruce Lee of our time.
Lauwa gave it a 10:
It's one of my favourites by Jet Li!
[Anonymous] gave it an 8:
Awesome fight scenes, even by old-school HK standards, and the "drama" is so bad you'll be laughing.
Joe B. gave it a 3:
I give this movie 3 for Jet Li's excellent fight scenes, the rest of the movie rates a 0, the dialogue is puerile, the scipt is inane, the acting and direction stink. Who knows why Bridget Fonda was in the movie anyway....
Dan M. gave it a 1:
This was by far the worst movie that I have ever seen in the theatre. Insane plot, bad acting, and lackluster martial arts.
Dan F. gave it a 3:
Extremely lacking in plot, attractiveness, and class that you forget about the good martial arts.
Mustapha M. gave it a 10:
Maybe not the greatest storyline ever, but still one the most intense and entertaining films I've seen in a while.
