Bangkok Dangerous

Here we go again. make a good Asian film and soon Hollywood will come around and ruin it for you. Those who have followed my criticisms of remakes know how I feel. For others, The Departed was a shallow remake of Infernal Affairs.

Now, I see that Nickolas Cage is in a remake of this film. Despite the fact that the Pang brothers are directing and writing, it cannot hope to capture what was here.

This is not just an action flick. It is so much more. It is the story of a child with hearing and speech impairment that was cruelly taunted by other children. He grew up into a meaningless life and meaningless jobs until someone noticed he has an ability that could be honed to perfection. Sure, he became a hit-man, but someone cared enough to teach and guide him to his potential.

Now, with just two friends, Kong (Pawalit Mongkolpisit) was happy. He lived with his teacher (Pisek Intrakanchit), and got assignments from Aom (Patharawarin Timkul). Life was good, but about to get better.

He meets Fon (Premsinee Ratanasopha) and love enters his life. He is supremely happy. Unfortunately, she learns the truth about his occupation, and he has to do some real soul searching.

The streets of Bangkok are a perfect backdrop used to maximum effect by the Pang brothers, and the cast is a group that you can really get close to. This is a story that can never be duplicated by someone from Hollywood, and I am disappointed that they would even try.

Bangkok Dangerous is the story of a lonely mute who becomes a hit-man, partly to avenge himself upon the world that has alienated him. Only when he finds happiness does he realize the full horror of his life.

The film boasts some great performances, particularly by Pawalit Mongkolpisit as Kong, the main protagonist. His face is beautiful yet impassive, and his large eyes convey all the strangled emotions of a person unable to communicate with those around him.

There are many excellent moments to savour in this film, but the contrived way in which Kong's partner is forced out of retirement is ridiculous. However, despite the generic plot - which at times has a square-peg-round-hole forced feel to it - and the thoroughly predictable narrative progression, the film is actually pretty rewarding. It has a tender humanism at the centre, which gives the film real depth, and there are many moments worth savouring.

Score 7/10 (6 is too low, but 7's maybe a little too high)

I Really enjoyed this one. The imagery is beautiful and imaginative, excellent editing and vibrant colors.

The cast was good, especially the guy playing Kong, the deaf assassin, he did a fantastic job, showing a full range of emotion without uttering a word. I really felt for the guy. In fact, I completely fail to see how the characters are flat and undeveloped like someone said. True, we don't get their life story, but i found my self really caring for them, they felt sort of real even though you didn't get to know that much about them.

That, and the girl playing Kong's love interest is so cute it'll make your eyes hurt...

About the action. Some people complain about this not being up to par with John Woo's action choreography, but who said an action flick, just because it's from Asia should have to be about making every shoot-out look like the Swan Lake? This is grittier, more unrehearsed, it's not about looking good firing that gun (even though I'm a big fan of that too).I thought that there was some really smart stuff, where brains won over brawn, watch out for the scene with laser sights at the end. I went "ahhh - Clever!"

This is not a perfect movie, it has flaws. I felt the ending to be a bit formulaic, and the whole "violence begets more violence" concept surely is nothing new plotwise, but still, it's not dumb and full of holes like so many other action movies. And it's sooo pretty to watch...

A good film with a great visual style. Although I kept finding it hard to overcome the problems a deaf\mute assassin would encounter, it was something that was easily overlooked. Revenge, death and love, what more could a story ask for, and this one delivers it well. As with a lot of good Japanese movies, there is a heavy emphasis on visual style to convey a feeling, action or even thoughts of the characters onscreen, and this is done well here. Added to that is the use of audio to either cover the sound in a scene, or totally ignore it, showing the problems of the assassins' deafness, and yet at no point is this made obvious to the viewer, it's something you just notice. There's no Hollywood here either, and it's well appreciated. Watch this film, it's a good one.

I thought it was actually a pretty superior 'hitman' film.

If you want full-on action in a style of early John Woo, then no, it is probably not perfect for you, but the directing is excellent, the character development is good, and the idea as original as any other.

I liked it, and liked the style particularly. It does borrow a lot from early Woo i guess, but it is borrowing and not stealing. There is enough originality of idea and of direction. The acting is pretty uniformly good as well. The critics in Toronto liked it too. (see awards and nominations)