A terrific film noir full of skewed camera angles and mysterious whose-shoes-are-those shots, Kiss Me Deadly is about as dark and exciting as noir gets. A young woman (Cloris Leachman) in bare feet and a trench coat throws herself into the traffic to flag down help and the car she stops belongs to detective Mike Hammer. Not even 15 minutes into the film and there's already been a murder, a mysterious letter, an attempt to kill Hammer and, of course, a warning to stay out of it. Hammer, tired of lowlife divorce cases, smells something big and can't let it go.

Mike Hammer is a detective so cool he can win a fight with nothing more than a box of popcorn as a weapon; he knows his opera singers as well as his amateur prize-fighters and he makes the ladies swoon--but he's far from a conventional hero. In fact, he's emphatically not a nice guy; Hammer happily whores out his secretary-girlfriend Velma to cinch up those divorce cases and has a penchant for slamming other people's fingers in drawers. Even the bad guys know he's a sleazebag ("What's it worth to you to turn your considerable talents back to the gutter you crawled out of?"). Ralph Meeker plays Hammer's ambivalence brilliantly, swinging easily between sexy and just plain mean. --Ali Davis

In Kiss of the Dragon, Chinese undercover agent Jet Li chops his way through Paris after he's framed in some sketchily defined drug sting operation. The fight sequences are tough and quite brutal, and the over-the-top finale is arguably worth the price of admission, wherein an implacable Li takes on the entire Paris Police Bureau, working his way up toward police chief Tchéky Karyo's office through cops, a pair of peroxide-blond twin henchmen, and a whole class of kung fu cadets. Coscreenwriter Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita) should know by now what makes for a nifty genre piece, but the woeful dialogue is a shame, and there aren't nearly enough action sequences to get your blood boiling. Poor Bridget Fonda gives it the old-school try in a thankless role as an ex-junkie prostitute from the Midwest whose young daughter is being held captive by duplicitous police chief/drug lord/pimp Karyo (who fairly inhales the scenery). Director Chris Nolan might have pushed further the strangers-in-a-strange-land camaraderie between Li and Fonda, but the script still would've sunk him. --Steve Wiecking

On the DVD: Kiss of the Dragon is a film that relies on its superbly choreographed fight scenes, so luckily the anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 widescreen presentation is spotless. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track positively shakes the room in the action sequences and atmospheric music by Craig Armstrong perfectly underscores the highs and lulls in the drama. Extras are plentiful: the audio commentary from Director Chris Nahon with Jet Li and Bridget Fonda is informative. "Jet Li--Fighting Philosophy" is a 12-minute bluffer's guide to Li and his life on and off-screen. "Cory Yuen--Action Academy" is about the work of long-time Li collaborator Yuen and details his fighting methodology. The "Police Gymnasium Fight: Martial Arts Demo" follows Yuen and fellow stuntmen blocking the stunning battle sequence. There are also a number of production stills and trailers for other Fox releases. --Kristen Bowditch