Bangkok Dangerous

Bangkok Dangerous is definitely not Cage at his best. The film is 90 percent action with 10 percent character development and the premise - that we have a cold blooded professional hitman with a soft heart wears a little thin. The film will definitely appeal to the bang bang shoot-em-up afficianado as Cage uses bikes, cars and boats to zoom around the streets and canals of Bangkok as he blows away an endless stream of villans, most of them shooting at him with automatic weapons (he does get a couple scratches), while conveniently avoiding injury to innocent bystanders. And the ending! Where did that come from? Buy it if you like endless violence but do yourself a favor and watch it on HBO first. You might not want a second viewing.

As a fan of Nicolas Cage I enjoyed Bangkok Dangerous. Cage is a hitman that has come to Bangkok for a job to kill four men for a local crime boss. The money from this job will allow him to retire from the hitman business for good. Along the way he befriends a local street criminal to act as go between with the gangsters and eventually takes him under his wing as an apprentice, breaking the first of his rules that have kept him safe thus far. His problems grow when he becomes attracted to a deaf pharmacist's assistant and she becomes a distraction to his work. His plans continue to unravel until he eventually becomes the hunted and he has to put everything in jeopardy to not only survive, but help those around him he's become attached to. This film was an Americanized remake of the 1999 Thailand film of the same name, directed and written by the same twin brothers that did the original. It's got action and it's got Nicolas Cage, and while it's not a movie that will win many awards, it's exciting and entertaing.