MovieChat Forums > Kiss of the Dragon (2001) Discussion > The 'Turtle' in the movie - Kiss of the ...

The 'Turtle' in the movie - Kiss of the Dragon

posted 18 years ago by d880640
12 replies | jump to latest

I liked how they used the turtle of Insp. Richard (the bad bad guy). When he
would take the turtle out of his desk drawer and turn him upside down.

This builds anger in the viewing audience because we don't like someone
torturing this pet turtle both placing him in the drawer and the rough playing makes the bad guy; a super bad guy in our minds.

This little turtle has a "highly important" job in this movie because if
the scenes can create high emotions in us toward the characters both
toward the turtle - we love and the Insp. who we just learned to hate,
then the ultra-evil character drives the movie to a greater success.

The stronger the evil character is, the better the movie.

Jessica steals the turtle and leaves with the hero, Liu Jian.
The turtle becomes also a metaphor or symbol of her freedom
and a symbol of love and binds us to them as they leave that scene,
sparking emotions in us toward all three.

Little things make the movie great not sex, not drugs, not bad language.

Dave

[–] ishtar-moon 18 years ago

I agree!

"Humans fear what they don't understand, and they hate what they fear."

[–] czarina-attrition 18 years ago

I never looked at it like that before. All I knew was that the turtle was a crewmember's pet.

[–] [email protected] 18 years ago

..and it wasn't a turtle..it was a tortoise! Why do Americans always call Tortoises 'turtles'?? Turtles swim..you put a tortoise in water it will sink like a stone!

[–] SSDDdc 17 years ago

Well im glad someone else noticed! That always annoys me as well! It has legs!

[–] OttoOC 15 years ago

A tortoise is a turtle.

[–] pc_buttspasm 11 years ago

Four years later: no it isn't. Basically a turtle mostly lives in the water and a tortoise mostly lives on land, so a turtle has flippers while a tortoise has claws. There are also many other differences, though they are similar if you're not paying close attention.

[–] OttoOC 11 years ago

A tortoise is a type of turtle. Give it another four years of reflection.

[–] pc_buttspasm 11 years ago

Nope. They are related but they are different species.

[–] RossFixxxed 17 years ago

I was surprised the turtle wansn't nominated for a Best Supporting Actor (Actress?) role to be honest. Well deserved.

Richard was a legend. But to the OP very true it's these little things that really stick after the movie and endeer it to me!

R

[–] coffeefilter 17 years ago

"The stronger the evil character is, the better the movie.

As long as the bad guys give the hero a run for his money I agree.

Two mistakes that films make is Dehumanising the bad guy (see Blade alternate ending) and making the bad guy so strong during the film that the bad guy shouldnt lose the final fight.

A perfect example of how to make a realistically strong yet beatable bad guy is Blade 2 imo...(actually in this case a sympathetic bad guy as well)

[–] Furie89 15 years ago

look at the bright side at least the turtle got famous

[–] ryoko_the_spacepirate1 11 years ago

I actually think Blade should have died in Blade 2 because Nomak was giving him the ..hands lol

"I think I liked it better when I thought Sylar ate brains." -Warriorrenegade