Bangkok Dangerous

So what if I can predict what is going to happens, I can do it with most films nowadays - its not about that. Its about making a movie that entertains, and IMHO they have achieved that.

OK, some of the shooting sequences were a bit dodgy and the narration descended into the cliché on occasions but overall I rate this film better then most action films I have seen in recent months.

Cage is solid in his role and so is his side kick. The elephant did a good job too but his role was only in 2 scenes :) So all in all 7 is my vote and it could have been better if not for a few lines of monologue and a couple of silly shootouts across water canisters.

Watch it and make your own mind.

The hit man Joe (Nicolas Cage) is a professional killer with a peculiar code of honor and modus-operandi. He travels to Bangkok to kill four persons and he hires the smalltime hoodlum Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm) to help him in his job.

When he meets the deaf and dumb Fon (Charlie Young) in a pharmacy, he falls in love with her and breaks his code. Further, he teaches Kong how to become a hit man. But when Kong is abducted by Surat (Nirattisai Kaljaruek), who had hired Joe for the assignment in Bangkok, he is forced to betray Joe. But the hit man decides to rescue Kong in his last job.

"Bangkok Dangerous" is an action movie by Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang with the nihilist story of a professional killer. I bought this DVD a couple of years ago and only yesterday I decided to watch it.

The cinematography and the camera work in the chaotic and exotic Bangkok is a chance for those like me that have not had the chance to visit Thailand yet to see the beauties of this city. Charlie Young is perfect in the role of a sweet woman capable to bring love to the heart of a cold blood killer. However, the conclusion is disappointing and inconsistent with the behavior of Joe. Nevertheless I recommend this movie to viewers that wish to see an average story in an environment unusual for Westerns. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Perigo em Bangkok" ("Danger in Bangkok")

This story deals with an American hit-man (Nicolas Cage, also producer) in Thailand , he kills his victims with no remorse . The drug addict murderer forms a relationship with a young man (pleasant Shahkrit Yamnarm) , as he teaches his craft to Thai hustler . Meanwhile , the killer falls in love with a deaf-mute (in the first version this handicap is borne by the murderous) pharmacist (enjoyable Charlie Young) and he shares brief moments of happiness .

This detailed study about an assassin and a youth he trains is an exciting movie with a great visual style . It concerns about murders , vengeance , a love story and this one delivers it well . The picture reworks many familiar issues , as a double-crossed hit-man falling in love . The rate of events blending drama and action are enhanced by extended length of the hunting scenes and occasional flashes of brilliance . There takes place a great deal of killing with some creative moments wrought from heavy stylistics and in a John Woo style . It succeeds in building intrigue , tension and nice performances , thanks to the affecting acting of the girl who plays the deaf and mute , she's frankly marvelous . The characters are well portrayed and they are persons for who the viewer has feeling and compassion . Worth it for the terse script and twists ending .

Furthermore , colorful and granulated cinematography by Decha Srimantra , Pang brothers' usual . Atmospheric musical score fitting well to action by Brian Tyler (author of notorious soundtracks from Rambo 4, Constantine , War , among others). The motion picture is professionally directed by Pang brothers (Messengers , Re-cycle , The eye), shooting during Thailand coup d'etat . Directors , Danny and Oxide Chun Pang did a cool but uneven work in making this violent story .

Bangkok Dangerous comes to viewers who approach it on DVD with a stigma. Matter of fact, it just kind of came and went when it played in theaters for a few weeks in September of 2008, around that time (i.e. Labor Day weekend) when few movies really do well with audiences or critics. It looks like it will be garbage just from the video cover: a half interested Nicolas Cage in damn-ridiculous hair (basically a Muppet called and wants its body back), and with a premise that sounds just like it is, a remake of an action movie from years back. But going into the movie my expectations were altered within some minutes. The initial thought was 'well, this will just be another hackneyed, predictable action movie in the Asian setting of Bangkok and stuck with what I call 'genericitis, which means a movie suffers from its perpetual sense of the usual... and in ways the movie is that.

It also surprised me with a few things, and it actually made me take the movie seriously as an actual piece of work as opposed to something to deride with teeth gnashed like Ghost Rider. Nicolas Cage is trying for something a little different here. At first, yes, it may look like he's bored, or wooden, or both in the character of "Joe" the hit-man who has his four rules and, naturally, breaks at least a few of them during the run time of the movie in Bangkok (i.e. be anonymous, don't make connections with people you don't know, and know when to quit), but this gives way to something else. He's trying for nuance and observation, of being subtle in a role that should call for it (albeit Joe isn't a terribly interesting person save for his detachment). While he's definitely no Alain Delon when it comes to playing cold killer who may have a couple of portions of humanity in him, I actually did find myself being drawn into the character just based on Cage's projection of this detachment as a means to hide himself away from people. And for good reason, since he's not a "people person" really.

That is until Joe meets 'Kong', who is a guy he hires for work but then takes on as his pupil (as the narration dutifully and unnecessarily tells us, because he sees something in Kong), and then also a romantic interest in a deaf-mute girl who works at a pharmacy. The latter scenes especially were touching because of it becoming a kind of silent movie, perhaps by default, when the two of them were together, and there's a rather sad, painful scene later on in the film between the two that is shockingly good and believable. I even liked the actors who played Kong and the girl, and how their characters unfolded in the story, limited as they might be... and yet, that old bastard cliché and convention kept coming back, more-so into the action scenes and set-pieces; whenever a chase happens in the film (save for one moment involving an arm dismemberment) you can zone out and not miss much. The editing is that kind of fast- kinetic style where you can barely take in a shot before it goes whizzing by. There's also some scenes that are ludicrous that are taken dead-serious, such as when Cage's Joe practically has gills and drowns a man underwater without any trouble.

It's really a matter of the plot just not giving anything much for the characters or actors to do. And yet there is a misconception that becomes apparent; this is much more about the characters than the plot, at least for a while, and when it sticks to that the Pang brothers sense of cinematic style, of the love of dirty Bangkok and elephants, works and is enjoyable. When the story comes back though, particularly in the last twenty minutes when Joe makes a fatal choice, it turns into something else - something frustratingly forgettable. For a short while there is hope, which is nice, until it reverts to what the expectation foretold. It's truly a mixed-bag, but far from the failure that was projected by the reviews and audience reaction... Oh, and of course, try not to look at Cage's hair. The bad jokes would never end. 5.5/10

Is it my imagination or has Nicholas Cage been involved in a lot of B-type films the past decade? I pretty much enjoyed this movie, don't get me wrong - but it's still not what you'd call a classy movie, not the kind of film he'd be involved with years ago. Now, he seems to prefer playing total wackos in stories that don't have a lot of credibility.

Here, he's a Joe The Hit-man in Thailand, who falls for Miss Wholesome, and then turns "Rambo" by killing 50 people while en route to saving his protégé. The only thing not a cliché was the ending; that was a bit of a shocker.

Shahkrit Yamnarm costars as "Kong," a man who becomes "Joe's" student. He's the one Joe saves. Charlie Yeung, a winsome Hong Kong actress who is almost 35 years of age but could pass for 21, plays Joe's love interest. Get this: she's a pharmacist, beautiful and wholesome as they come, and a deaf-mute! Yet, sleazy Joe sweeps her off her feet in no time!

Man, you have to really enjoy the stylish visuals and sound (which ARE very good), the pretty good.....and leave it at that, to enjoy this movie. It's better to just watch it with your brain on hold and enjoy it, because if you start thinking about it, the film gets dumb and dumber.