Kiss of the Dragon

A muddled, cliché-driven plot packs little punch compared to the sole redeeming quality of Jet Li films: the fight scenes, which are unfortunately few and far between. The martial arts master stars as a Chinese operative sent to Paris on a top secret mission. This gets him caught in a conspiracy involving corrupt cops with a prostitution-running, drug-smuggling kidnapper (Tcheky Karyo) as their ringleader and a grungy street-walking junkie as an annoying tag-along (Bridget Fonda). But fast-forward through this mundane plot to the butt-kicking, fist-flying action sequences incorporating lethal chopsticks, deadly acupuncture pins and fatal billiard balls, in a refreshing display of raw talent versus the overused Matrix-style special effects exploited in films today.