Critic Reviews
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Lisa Alspector, Chicago Reader
An audiovisually complex drama that's better than slick, though it feels pointless-another homage to a kind of filmmaking that's had more than its share.
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Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
Bangkok Dangerous mixes mindless violence, sappy romance, and philosophical pretentiousness. On the whole, it does the first better than the other two.
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Variety Staff, Variety
Enjoyable in an undemanding way, and with a few interesting flourishes.
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, Time Out
Seriously impressive.
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Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
Scene after thrilling scene, this movie takes your breath away.
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Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
It's long on style but short on substance.
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Staci Layne Wilson, Buzzine Magazine
The movie, about a top-notch hitman who takes on an apprentice, starts off promisingly enough but winds up bleeding out about halfway through.
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Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
The pacing is usually clumsy and transitions are clunky. There are two bravura sequences not quite worth the price of submission . . . other scenes suggest that the Pang Brothers really want to make a new horror film, not retread stagnant action plots.
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Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
No frills at all [on the DVD release} and a marketing attempt to garner some extra revenue by capitalizing on the [upcoming] Nic Cage version.
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Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness
Doesn't make much of a lasting impression except as a case study in the dreariness of style-over-substance filmmaking when said style is the height of derivativeness.
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Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...an old-as-the-hills hit man story jazzed up by flashy visuals and a charismatic turn by the very good looking lead.
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Harry Guerin, RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
The poorly worked plot and lack of decent dialogue makes you wonder if the title Bangkok Monotonous isn't more appropriate.
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, Empire Magazine
Written, directed and edited by the Pang brothers, Bangkok Dangerous delivers 105 minutes of explosive, stylised, bone-splintering violence that leaves little room for dialogue.
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Phil Hall, Film Threat
Style-rich, substance-weak.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The film moves at a dizzying pace, as it moves either backward or forward with no rhyme or reason.
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Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
The Pangs' film is leavened with charming pathos and romance. This is a sure-footed, watchable film that lingers in the mind.
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, FilmFour.com
A worthy attempt to add an emotional dimension to the standard bullet play that characterises most action movies.
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Tom Dawson, BBC
Expect the Pang brothers receive a call from a Hollywood studio soon.
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Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Combined with the rather touching romance that's trying to bloom between rivers of blood, the film is more than a little unsettling ... and unsuccessful.
Read all 19 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Action thriller about the exploits of a death mute hitman working for a seedy Thai gangster. Despite the interesting disability the story doesn't herald too many surprises. But the film has enough style, heart and bloody gun-play to distinguish itself among other contract-killer… More
Action thriller about the exploits of a death mute hitman working for a seedy Thai gangster. Despite the interesting disability the story doesn't herald too many surprises. But the film has enough style, heart and bloody gun-play to distinguish itself among other contract-killer flicks out there and it's head and shoulders above many of them. Well worth checking out!
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Magnificent Thailand action movie I ever seen with a deaf mute assassin. The imagery is beautiful and imaginative, excellent editing and vibrant colors.
The cast was good, especially Pavarit Mongkolpisit playing Kong, the deaf assassin, he did a fantastic job, showing a full range of… More
Magnificent Thailand action movie I ever seen with a deaf mute assassin. The imagery is beautiful and imaginative, excellent editing and vibrant colors.
The cast was good, especially Pavarit Mongkolpisit playing Kong, the deaf assassin, he did a fantastic job, showing a full range of emotion without uttering a word. That does make 100% sense to know about a deaf person who could learn experiences and everything to become smart and professional one, not dumb in this film, just like me and other Deafies. I understood what Kong was doing in the scenes including communicating with a beautiful girl and eyes open on gunfights.
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The Pang brothers manage to use fancy editing, bright neon lights, and a memorable soundtrack without once coming off as pretentious. Kong is a wonderful protagonist, and conveys heart felt emotions despite the inability to speak. His final attempt at reading out what he wrote in a… More
The Pang brothers manage to use fancy editing, bright neon lights, and a memorable soundtrack without once coming off as pretentious. Kong is a wonderful protagonist, and conveys heart felt emotions despite the inability to speak. His final attempt at reading out what he wrote in a letter to his beloved Fon is incredibly moving and very sad. Great action and hard hitting drama.
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Gritty depiction of a handful of amorals make me wonder "What's the point of this film??" Calling the story threadbare is an insult to fishnet stockings. Let's see how many words it takes to describe: Deaf/mute assassin meets girl, then avenges mentor and a… More
Gritty depiction of a handful of amorals make me wonder "What's the point of this film??" Calling the story threadbare is an insult to fishnet stockings. Let's see how many words it takes to describe: Deaf/mute assassin meets girl, then avenges mentor and a friend. Seriously, that's the entire 100 minutes in an eleven word nutshell. The scenes of killing (and there are many, but often brief) would appeal only to people who watch those wretched "World's Wildest Drivers" TV shows. The only point of interest is that the director does have an interesting style and offers some original impressionistic images. Unfortunately, given the non-story, he feels the need to shoot the entire film in an arty, crazy-angled manner to distract from the gaping absence of plot. My advice: skip it. There's a good chance the American version represents an improvement.
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Brilliant and visually stunning thriller about a deaf and mute hitman called Wong who usually takes out victims in a quick, cold blooded manner but this starts to change when he meets,and falls for,a local pharmacy worker.But things are difficult due to his line of work and the fact… More
Brilliant and visually stunning thriller about a deaf and mute hitman called Wong who usually takes out victims in a quick, cold blooded manner but this starts to change when he meets,and falls for,a local pharmacy worker.But things are difficult due to his line of work and the fact that there's problems in the local underworld that Wong, and his brother, get caught up in. This has some great action, violence and has plenty of drama and tension to. The Pang brothers do a brilliant directing job but i'd say the only downside would be to many different styles of picture during flashbacks etc, they over-do it a bit there but other than that, good script and story and some decent acting make this a stylish, entertaing and compelling film.
I can't begin to imagine how Nicolas Cage and friends can even come close to matching the quality of this film.I highly doubt they will and it'll be some made for chavs thriller which will be about as deep as a puddle so watch this and see how it was really done!
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The incredibly stylish editing elevates this otherwise boring and mediocre movie. I can't honestly say it was bad, but it didn't pack near the visceral or emotional punch that some of John Woo's lesser Hong Kong films did. I can't say I'm pumped for the… More
The incredibly stylish editing elevates this otherwise boring and mediocre movie. I can't honestly say it was bad, but it didn't pack near the visceral or emotional punch that some of John Woo's lesser Hong Kong films did. I can't say I'm pumped for the remake.
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Decent flick, good cinematography. There are some plotholes that really diminish this film though.
Read all 7 featured audience ratings
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