Nicolas Cage, Shahkrit Yamnarm, Charlie Young

A hitman who's in Bangkok to pull off a series of jobs falls for a local woman and bonds with his errand boy.

Flixster Users

34% liked it

124,020 ratings

Critics

9% liked it

87 critics

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang

Release Date: August 22, 2008

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DVD Release Date: January 6, 2009

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Stats: 4,987 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (4,987)


  • November 7, 2009
    A slow, fairly amusing dramatic thriller.I wanna like Nick Cage but dammit he has the worst taste in chosing his films.
  • July 27, 2009
    An ok action film with a decent enough production. Some odd storylines, plot developments but the action more than makes up for it. However you might like something along the lines of Vantage Point better, similar in some respects.
  • July 27, 2009
    Well, Nic Cage is back with another lame movie. The man known of his terrible hairstyle has yet again chosen to participate in a bad movie, which he even produced. So I guess he had some faith with the production but critics didn't like it and neither did most of the viewers.

    'B...( read more)angkok Dangerous' is a remake of the same titled feature by the Pang brothers from '99. They also directed the original, which I haven't seen so I can't really compare the films. In this Nic Cage is a hitman who obeys four basic rules and ends fuckin' up each and every one of 'em. So a pro turned out to be a not so professional after all... Of course there are the mandatory love story that is totally pointless in a film like this.

    The film does look good and has some terrific underwater scenes. The camera captures the Bangkok night very beautifully but a decent cameraman can't really save a film when the directors don't really know how to build up the tension.

    Nic Cage hasn't really made anything spactacular in years. He has done some ok movies like 'National Treasure', 'Lord of War' and 'Matchstick Men' but looks like he can't find his way out of average movie hell. Well see..
  • March 14, 2009
    I actually enjoyed it
  • March 6, 2009
    "I was taught four rules. One: Don't ask questions. There is no such thing as right and wrong. Two: Don't take an interest in people outside of work. There is no such thing as trust. Three: Erase every trace. Come anonymous and leave nothing behind. Four: Know when to get out....( read more) Just thinking about it means it's time. Before you lose your edge, before you become a target."

    Photobucket

    Oh brother, here we go again. A professional killer, years into his callous career, suddenly develops a conscience. He decides to take a shady street kid who has already proven to be naïve and unreliable under his wing. Vowing to end his life of secret crime, he commits to one more series of deadly assassinations. With each murder, he finds himself more and more lost. When the last hit goes pear-shaped, he must defend his honour while deciding whether it is better to be the highly paid hunter, or the common everyday prey. Oh yeah, and for an added maudlin effect, there's a deaf girl love interest who makes the hitman pine even harder for that elusive, simple life.

    Why the Pang brothers wanted to remake their 1999 cult favourite Bangkok Dangerous into a mindless, droning Hollywood hack job has only one viable answer - the interest of a man who was once a great actor, the former Oscar-winner/current paycheck-casher Nicolas Cage in playing the lead. In his role as Joe, we're treated to Method mediocrity, the kind of performance that finds our systematic slayer following strict protocols and certain succinct rules as a substitute for depth or actual personal dimension.

    The plot has Cage deciding to give up the game, analysing the ways he can get out of his occupation once and for all. He decides to take one more job in Bangkok, because a) it's exotic and, you know, Americans who travel are sophisticated, and b) because if it was in L.A. or NYC they would have to change the title and that would defeat the whole purpose. There, he befriends street hustler Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm) and turns him into a quasi-protégé. The rest of the film is a series of set-ups for uninteresting, if certainly stylized, pop-gun pay-offs. Eventually, Joe must decide between people and his personal needs while taking on the syndicate that hired him.

    In a film with dozens of problems, the main flaw in Bangkok Dangerous is that Cage's Joe is never presented as a sympathetic or compelling figure. He's completely depressed and disillusioned from the moment we meet him, and he only gets worse as his situation starts to unravel. Instead of using said circumstances to force his final stand, we're given over to endless sequences of silent brooding. His interest in the local pharmacy clerk (Charlie Young) who can't hear seems specious, the twist in their relationship telegraphed by Cage's inherent ability to draw danger to himself. Even his interaction with Kong comes across as a pure narrative device. So does Joe's decision to swoop in and save the thug once the local mobsters decide he's expendable.

    Much of the film feels like lessons badly learned from John Woo. While they avoid the auteur's overuse of slow motion and visual panache, the Pangs have their own set of irritating on-screen tendencies. They think that mannered music video moves and a total desaturation of colour equals palpable post-modern noir. It worked ten years ago, because that was ten years ago and they were two passionate kids from Hong Kong making what they loved. Here, it merely inspires current viewing nausea. Even the final firefight set in a factory is so dark that a night vision lens would still render it dimly lit. About the only effective moment occurs when Joe's date with his deaf dream girl goes awry. There, the Pangs play on the syrupy situation to wring out a little forced emotion.

    If it didn't feel like such a work of Hollywood hubris and if the original elements that made the first film so intriguing (it was the hitman not the girl, who could not hear, which was why he was so good at offing people and such a compelling character at the same time) weren't swept aside for more anti-climatic, anti-heroic rubbish, maybe we could support what Bangkok Dangerous and the Pangs were striving to accomplish. But everything here feels like the proverbial sound and fury, filled with typical Asian action film gravitas designed to cash in millions around the world, yet signifying nothing - a whole lot of nothing.
  • November 21, 2009
    really cool hitman movie
  • November 5, 2009
    Last Viewed: 02/11/2008
  • October 22, 2009
    Wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about this one. Ended up actually enjoying it.

    ** review to be continued **
  • October 17, 2009
    I really liked this movie! Fun and action packed.
  • October 14, 2009
    for the first time ... the main character of the movie is commit suicide !!!!
    really it's so good for him : )

Critic Reviews


November 20, 2008
Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com

A by-the-numbers retread that's ill-conceived as an action vehicle for Cage. full review

September 6, 2008
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine

As they did with their original, the Pangs steal liberally from John Woo without ever replicating his shootout-choreography inventiveness or proficiency. full review

September 5, 2008
Kurt Loder, MTV

What Cage -- such a fine actor when the mood's upon him -- is doing wasting his time in listless junk like this is anybody's guess. full review

September 2, 2008
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

Hollywood and the television industry have long since sucked what they require from the tropes and rhythms of Asian films, and parts of Bangkok Dangerous, far from seeming unfamiliar or freshly styliz... full review

View more Bangkok Dangerous reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • elsheikhalassam
    September 24, 2008


    Fantastic film
    But the story is not interesting and frequently lot of films
    The story is not new
  • lortega537
    May 14, 2008
    I agree, this looks like a great movie besides "Mr. CAGE" is a GREAT actor.......more power to him!
  • Smithie111
    May 7, 2008
    I like the way so much in integrated into this one poster. It looks as though this will be a very high energy film, as most of Nic Cage's films are. I am looking forward to the release of this film!

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Bangkok Dangerous Trivia


  • the 2008 Nicholas Cage film Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of a 2000 Thai film of the same name.  Answer »
  • This actor starred in: Gone In 60 Seconds Face/Off National Treasure : Book Of Secrets Knowing Bangkok Dangerous Which actor is it?  Answer »
  • What does Joe tell Rami's mom he is in Bangkok Dangerous ?  Answer »
  • What is wrong with Rain in Bangkok Dangerous ?  Answer »

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