If you take director Chris Nahon's talent for creating drama and his in depth knowledge of martial arts and combine them with Jet Li's fantastic fighting skills and intensity on the big screen, the outcome will always be a blockbuster film. Which proves to stand true in the 2001 release of Kiss Of The Dragon.(re-released on UMD for the Sony PSP in November of 2005.)

When China sends their top detective Liu Jiuan (Jet Li) to France to assist with the arrest of one of their citizens, Jiuan ends up getting more than he bargains for. And when the French head inspector Jean-Pierre Richard (Tcheky Karyo) tries to orchestrate a set-up to blame Liu for a murder (that the inspector himself has just committed) he finds himself facing a tougher than usual adversary. After Liu's action packed but narrow escape from the French police he heads back to the secret safe house downtown only to end up meeting Jessica (Bridget Fonda) one of the hookers on inspector Richard's payroll. Being that the inspector has possession of Jessica's daughter, she decides to switch sides and assist Liu in getting proof of his innocence (and the inspector's guilt).

After a failed attempt to retrieve Jessica's daughter, she gets shot and Liu begrudgingly takes it upon himself to save her daughter and go after the police. Luckily for us this all takes place at the police station and creates lots of awesome fight scenes including one where Liu ducks into a room to hide only to find it filled with dozens of police officers in the middle of their martial arts training. There's also a great scene where Liu faces off with two highly trained brothers who inflict some heavy damage on him before he finally ends their lives. Once Liu defeats just about everyone in the station he heads to inspector Richard’s office to retrieve the girl and show us what the Kiss of the Dragon actually is (which makes for a very bloody and dramatic ending with bleeding eyeballs, ears and topped off with some bloody vomiting).

The dramatic role of Li's character in this film definitely makes for an excellent build up to the fighting scenes and I think that's what puts his action scenes at a much higher level than a lot of the other martial arts movies we see nowadays. Bridget Fonda's job of playing a recovering drug addict prostitute (that cares for nothing in life other than her ransomed daughter) balances out Li's character to give him an emotional and caring side. Between those two and the insane power crazy Inspector Richard, the film has all the correct ingredients to make it a great action film. You can see why Li is so big in China and why he's earned a following here in the States. The consistency of his roles keeps me excited to his next project, especially when he's working with director Chris Nahon, who's earned every bit of fanfare and respect he currently receives.

As far as the quality of this movie on the PSP goes the only small complaint I have is that it's easy to miss some of the quick movements in the fight scenes when viewing a small screen, but that’s not enough of a reason, in this film lovers opinion, to miss out on watching it many more times in the near future. If you enjoy watching this UMD, then you’ll probably enjoy watching the extras which include a commentary by Jet Li, Bridget Fonda and director Chris Nahon. You'll also be able to watch a featurette by the action director Cory Yuen. Both of which I recommend watching. Especially the featurette which gives a lot of background on Li including the fact that he studied martial arts at the same school where Jackie Chan did. This UMD is rated R for violence and strong language, it has an approximate runtime of 98 minutes and is played in anamorphic widescreen.

You can learn more about the movie by stopping by www.foxhome.com . You can also purchase it at participating retailers right now.