Kiss of the Dragon

Kiss of the Dragon is a 2001 English-language French action thriller film directed by Chris Nahon, written and produced by French filmmaker Luc Besson, and starring an international cast of Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, and Tchéky Karyo. The film is based on a story by Li.

The film was made to satisfy Li's fans, who requested more realistic fight scenes. It is notable as most of the action sequences did not use CGI or wire work; only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work.

Plot

Liu Siu-jian (Jet Li), a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent to Paris to help apprehend Chinese mob boss Mr. Big (Ric Young), who is involved in heroin smuggling. He meets Inspector Jean-Pierre Richard (Tchéky Karyo), a corrupt and violent French police detective, at a hotel. Richard tricks Liu into believing he is simply providing reconnaissance of a meet involving Mr. Big. The plans are changed when Mr. Big is introduced to two prostitutes, one being Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda), an American woman, who takes him to his room to service him. While Liu and the rest are watching through the surveillance camera, Mr. Big kicks everyone out except for the two prostitutes. After pretending to seduce him, one of the prostitutes then stabs Mr. Big. Overseeing the events from a surveillance room, Liu rushes to stop the killing, but Richard enters shortly later to shoot Mr. Big and the prostitute with Liu's police-issued handgun, framing Liu for the murders.

Jet Li

Li Lianjie ([lì ljɛ̌ntɕjě]; born 26 April 1963), better known by his English stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and wushu champion who was born in Beijing. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen.

After three years of intensive training with Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from Wushu at age 19, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably the Once Upon A Time in China series, in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung.

Li's first role in a Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), and his first leading role in a Hollywood film was as Han Sing in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, including Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed. He co-starred in The One (2001), The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) with Jackie Chan, all three of The Expendables films with Sylvester Stallone, and as the title character villain in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) opposite Brendan Fraser.

Dragon (disambiguation)

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits.

Dragon may also refer to:

Arts and entertainment

Music

Literature

Kiss (Korn song)

"Kiss" is a power ballad written and recorded by American nu metal band Korn, and produced by The Matrix and Atticus Ross for their untitled eighth studio album. It was released as the album's third and final single on April 7, 2008.

Music and structure

"Kiss" features Terry Bozzio on drums, who had provided for eight of the album's songs. Jonathan Davis also provided additional percussion for the song, along with "Hushabye". The song makes use of keyboards by Zac Baird, heavy drum patterns and violins. Allmusic described "Kiss" as "like [a] vaguely Beatlesque Mellotron," implying its difference from the rest of the album.

Chart performance

The song failed to chart worldwide due to its limited release in the United States.

References

External links

Dragon

A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that features in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies, and the Chinese dragon, with counterparts in Japan (namely the Japanese dragon), Korea and other East Asian countries.

The two traditions may have evolved separately, but have influenced each other to a certain extent, particularly with the cross-cultural contact of recent centuries. The English word dragon derives from Greek δράκων (drákōn), "dragon, serpent of huge size, water-snake".

Name

The word dragon entered the English language in the early 13th century from Old French dragon, which in turn comes from Latin draconem (nominative draco) meaning "huge serpent, dragon", from the Greek word δράκων, drakon (genitive drakontos, δράκοντος) "serpent, giant seafish". The Greek and Latin term referred to any great serpent, not necessarily mythological, and this usage was also current in English up to the 18th century.