When Jet Li jumped over to Hollywood a lot of fans were disappointed. They were worried that he would get stuck in a bunch of watered down action films in which he would be stereotyped. They had seen what had happened to Chow Yun-fat who started off in a couple solid films but within a few years was in the dreadful Bulletproof Monk. That was enough to push Chow back to Hong Kong. Jet played it a little smarter. He went for the big money with a mixed group of films but in the middle of it he returned for Hero and then Fearless. To some degree the worries had merit - a few dreadful films, a few where he just picked up the money and ran but a couple that I think stand up just fine. This being the best of them. In fact, I would venture to say that this was better than some of his Hong Kong films leading up to his leaving - Hitman, Once Upon a Time in China and America, Black Mask and Dr. Wai. Ok films but far from his best work. This one has some of the best set pieces in his career. Brutal and explosive if way over the top absurd.



That is because he may have left Hong Kong but he brought Corey Yuen and his stuntmen with him. Yuen and Jet had worked together so many times before - Corey as either director or choreographer. They waste no time and within five minutes a set piece in a hotel goes gonzo. A couple small ones and then another big one at the end when he takes on the entire Paris police department including a kung-fu class and demolishes them. They should have sued the filmmakers. I don't think Jet smiles for the entire film which has always been his problem. We love what he can do physically on screen but he is stiff and stoic to a degree that it is hard to feel warmth towards him like Hong Kong fans do to Chow, Jackie (pre-louse), Andy and Tony. He never learned how to be fun on the screen, to invite the audience in with a wink or a joke. It may also be that he is Mainland Chinese. Of course, there isn't much to smile about in this film. It is as funny as a Nietzsche comic book.


The plot basically comes down to Mainland cop vs corrupt French police and they spend the entire film attempting to kill one another. Trying to fill the holes between the action set-ups was the hard part. Jet doesn't show much personality in Chinese, in English he is anti-matter. But he has been sent to France to help the police capture a drug smuggler (Ric Young) and learn who his contact is. Jet is only armed with acupuncture needles and of course his kung-fu. It is enough. The cops under Tchéky Karyo (La Femme Nikita) are as down and dirty as they come. He kills the drug smuggler and a prostitute and then tries to pin it on Jet. Jet is having none of that. Another prostitute was in the bathroom when the killing went down. Played by Bridget Fonda - another reason this is Jet's best Western film. From that point on it is Jet on the run - eventually with Bridget - and the cops pretty much destroying Paris. Which is the really idiotic part. They go around killing anyone they want to, the fight in the hotel should have brought the entire police force there but it doesn't. It is ludicrous but we have learned to ignore that sort of thing. This is actually a French production with Luc Besson doing the screenplay and Chris Nahon directing his first film. There are some wonderful moments in this and Jet looking grim and ready for payback as he walks down the hall in the police station hits home like a beautiful woman.