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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very cool and violent action movie!, December 29, 2003
Bangkok Dangerous is a cool blast of daring and violent cinema that will have you enjoying every moment of its ultra-low budget "deaf"-defing trickery. The premise is simple - a dumb Thai hitman does not suffer from gun recoil because he does not hear the sound of his own gunfire and so has deadly accurate aim. He goes around Thailand knocking off criminals and crimelords but then has the fatal error of getting mixed up in some nasty business where innocent and important political people are killed. In the background there is the story of his brother assassin who is temporarily out of a job and a girl who works in the local chemist that he falls for. You have to see it for the camera work and editing and violent special effects. It really does dazzle and there is lots of techno in the soundtrack. To be honest this little gem from Thailand simply mashes most Hollywood action flicks. Great!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting use of inexpensive camera techniques, July 31, 2008
This is a semi-interesting tale of a deaf-mute hitman who achieves a redemptive state after befriending/falling in love with a pretty shop girl. Only after receiving tenderness for the first time in his life does he come to understand his lifestyle for what it is (reprehensible) and begins to make amends the only way he knows how.
The 'meditation on violence' trope is beginning to wear thin to my eyes, but the setting went a long way towards keeping my interest. The filthy alleyways and seedy strip clubs establish the low value placed on human life in the circles traveled by the protagonist. This vehicle allows his rapid repentance a little more believable than it would have been otherwise.
The real gem is the camera technique. Without obvious recourse to the filmographic techniques made available to massive-budget films, the directors use a great number of subtle camera tricks to establish a mood and a style which go a long way towards making up the film's tiny budget. Scratched film in flash-backs, blurred vision during chases, documentary-style use of extras in multiple scenes (specifically the hit from the roof), and other inexpensive tricks move this film closer to Tony Scott than to John Woo.
All in all, this is a three-stars film. If the plot was a little more compelling I would have ranked it higher.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
don't believe the advertisements, October 24, 2004
After reading the reviews and seeing the sound bites of reviewers in the DVD package, I set forth to buy Bangkok Dangerous. I was expecting a "hyperkinetic" movie, as one critic put it and a cinematic style that's "similar to John Woo and Quentin Tarantino". I got neither. What I got is a languidly paced film about a deaf-mute hitman eager to redeem himself for a pretty young pharmacist's love. Actually, that's the most interesting part of the movie, how the hitman communicates his love to Fon, the pharmacist. The gunplay, action, the pacing and the camera techniques are nowhere near what critics are comparing it to. There's no gimmicky non-linear storytelling. No "kewl" camera work. No "hip" editing. It is not like Tsui Hark's Time & Tide with its visually-stunning camera work and dense storytelling, instead it is more akin to Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai. Quiet, a little profound. The story is refreshingly simple but it kind of drags on in the middle, plodding to the point of predictable, it makes you wish it has one of those twists Thai TV commercials are known for in global advertising awards shows. All in all, Bangkok Dangerous is a refreshing film to see amidst the noisy action films of Hollywood and Hong Kong. But don't get misled by what's on the cover.
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