Customer Reviews

Bangkok Dangerous (Single-Disc Edition)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Nicolas Cage plays a hit man named Joe
2. Poor Joe - he has to go through the whole movie with Cage's bad hairstyle
3. Joe has rules that make him the best in the hit man business
4. People depend on Joe to do his job, get paid, and disappear.
5. We often wish that 4. above would apply to Cage also
6. Joe heads to Bangkok for a four-hitter for a man named Surat.
7. One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble as he decides to break his own rules
8. Some rules aren't meant to be broken
9. Best ending for Cage in recent times.

This movie is about a hit man with an extremely high achievement rating. He owes his success to his personal set of rules, which don't allow for friends, relationships, loose ends or sticking around in the business for too long.

For some inexplicable reason, Joe decides to deviate from the rules while on duty in Bangkok, and finds himself in all sorts of trouble.

Cage does a pretty good job as the heroin-using, dour hit man, once you can get past what appears to be a dead animal splayed out on his head and down his neck. The real star however is the scene stealing Shahkrit Yamnarm as his disposable sidekick Kong.

Action wise the movie is okay, except for the scenes shot in blue and red lighting where you can't really see what's going on. The romantic parts are sweet at first, but the sight of Cage doing goo-goo eyes may be upsetting to some viewers. The plot requires as little thought as possible, as it doesn't really make much sense.

Recommended for fans of action-crime movies, and people with a morbid fascination for Cage's hairstyles.

Rated: 3.5 stars




Amanda Richards

Bangkok Dangerous is a perfect movie for a post-summer release. It's got plenty of action, but it also has a great story, one that resonates more than some of the straight-ahead popcorn flicks that you find between May and August.

In the film, Nicolas Cage plays Joe, an otherwise anonymous hitman who provides laconic narration throughtout most of the film. His modus operandi is to setup on the outskirts of his target's location, find someone to act as a go-between with him and his client, and once the hit is completed, kill the go-between to tie up loose ends.

Joe decides that it's time to retire, so he takes one last contract - a series of four hits in Bangkok for a gangster named Surat. He finds a local street punk named Kong to act as his go-between, and proceeds with the hits. But he ends up caring for Kong, and also falls in love with a local pharmacist, which gives him even more pause about his line of work.

The film is a very competent action film, but also has its fair share of drama and emotion. It's not for the squeamish, and Cage's Joe isn't always a charmer, but you find yourself rooting for him, and by extension, rooting for this film.

If you like Nicholas Cage and some of the darker characters he has portrayed you will probably like this movie. It isn't as good as some of his others but I still enjoyed it. The movie is about the psyche of his character and his line of work. Good action intermixed with dialogue driven scenes as his character veers off his usual set of rules for getting the job done. The blu-ray picture quality was good, but not as clear and sharp as most. There is a fair amount of grain especially in the beginning but I suspect this is with intent. The audio quality was very good. Dialogue was clear and easily heard above the action. Surround use was effective in the action scenes. LFE was good but towards the end of the movie the bass really kicks in. For many this may be a watch once only movie.

I love Nicholas Cage in just about anything, and this was no exception. Yes, it was an extremely "campy", predictable, violent and definitely Grade B film, but it was so much fun! The way it was filmed was delectable, filled with the raw sights, sounds and colors of Bangkok-you could almost taste and smell the foods in the market, feel the seedy, oily, hot and humid backstreets, and it's mixed-class people; it was wonderful. The story line was typical: assasin meets girl, changes his ways, loses girl because he had to make a moral choice, then goes out in a blaze of glory. But this film has a twist: the love interest was a (delightful) normal woman, AND she was deaf! This made the film much more "realistic"(if you will), using a normal woman rather than the typical woman often portrayed as the heroine, read: stick-thin, extraordinarily beautiful, with a killer wardrobe-even if she is ridiculously poor. If you enjoyed the cult favorite film "Replacement Killers" (Mira Sorvino and Chow Yun Fat-in one of his first US films), you will also enjoy this film.

A lot of my peers refer to me as the "guy who watches those B-Grade Action Movies", so please keep this in mind if you're reading this review.
First, I must confess that Nicolas Cage is very far from being my favorite guy to watch in movies; however, I think that the producers were spot-on when they chose him for this role. He looks the part, acts the part, and executes (pun intended) the part very well.
The story is very solid, and the action sequences are awesome. I'm a sound junkie, and the special effects really rock the house. This movie has my favorite composer, Brian Tyler, so the music is killer (yes, another pun).
Let's face it, if you really need to have your confidence built via an Amazon review before you watch a movie like this, please go rewatch Titanic or something. If you like action, then you'll like this movie. 'Nuff said.

Some movies try to say to much. Some movies spend too much time blowing stuff up and showing people killed in excruciating detail. The Hong Kong style of film making, at times, tries to bridge that gap. Joe, portrayed by Nicholas Cage, is a killer aware that time in his trade is growing short and its time for one big score and get out intact. As in the real world, life takes mysterious turns. This is not a happy film. It is dark, moody and brooding. I recommend you watch this film entirely and then make a judgement.

As a hitman identified only as "Joe" Nicholas Cage plays a hitman on his final job -- a 4 person hit that will net him enough money to retire. After years of living the invisible life of an assassin, Joe is worn out and worn down by his own dead-end life. The hit in Bangkok promises to be the one that can get him out of the game for good.

Problems arise when Joe encounters a young man who reminds him of his own younger, more eager self. Against his good judgement, Joe begins to train this young protegee in the arts of assassination. He also encounters a deaf native girl named Rain who brings out his longing to settle down into a normal life.

As Joe, Nicholas Cage appropriately dull-voiced and dead-eyed, a pale cypher of a man who is almost as dead as those he's put in the grave. Watching Cage's character flirt with life, one sees flashes of brilliance in the actor's performance. Behind his dead-eyed stare, Joe wants to life, to breathe, to love. In short, he wants to put his job behind him and just be a normal guy.

That, alas, is not to be when the 4th and final hit goes terribly wrong, forcing Joe to make a choice: walk away and let the hit go bad, or sacrifice his own life to save his young apprentice. While a bit predictable, Cage's canny performance saves the film and makes it all fall into place by time the end credits roll.

I kept hearing the old Cheech & Chong joke in my head throughout this movie. "Any questions? Yeh, Who cut your hair man?"

Bangkok Dangerous was action packed, but still came across to me as lackluster. The story of a world weary hit man and a budding student has been done before, and I still think that a much better film was the Charles Bronson movie The Mechanic which had parts that I still remember after 30 some years since I saw it the first time.

Here's the deal,
Bangkok dangerous is an action packed film, a pretty hackneyed plot, and a very bad hair do. There are certainly worse movies out there, but there are lots of better ones to watch as well. However, if you are a big Cage fan, you should like it just fine.

2 ½ *

Oxide Pang Chung and Danny Pang have directed a masterpiece with this film! I absolutely loved this movie. The cinematography in the movie is second to none. Be it neon lights, street traffic, or the daunting eyes of a beautiful woman, Bangkok Dangerous is a must-see movie. The camera angles, the sights and sounds of the city, and the cast of colorful characters were all wound together so amazingly that I could watch this movie over and over for years to come.

Shahkrit Yamnarm is EXCELLENT as Kong, the street thug recruited by Cage (Joe) to complete his missions while in Bangkok. He managed to work so well with Cage that the movie took on a whole subplot for me; are these guys going to work together again? I hope so!

This movie has to be added to any Nicolas Cage fan's collection. The plot is solid, the acting superb, the scenery is fantastic, and the viewer gets a chance to sit back and enjoy a James Bond type thriller without all the British accents.

Yes, the shoot-em-up scenes are a little long. Yes, it's hard to root for a bad guy. Yes, we've seen movies like this before. We've just never seen one that combines all the elements of good movie making into on solid movie the way Bangkok Dangerous does.

Do yourself a favor; buy Bangkok Dangerous! It's a movie you'll cherish for years to come.

And thanks to all the producers, writers, CASTING DIRECTORS, directors, and actors involved with this film. You did an OUTSTANDING job.

See ya next review!

This film is bang tight, I can whole heartedly recommend it to all those that like good action films.