Bangkok Dangerous

Hong Kong-based sibling filmmakers Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang have retooled their 1999 hit thriller for American audiences by casting Nicolas Cage in the lead. Cage plays a dour hit man named Joe, who arrives in Bangkok to commit a series of killings. As a result of training a local assistant (Shahkrit Yamnarm) and befriending a deaf female pharmacist (Charlie Yeung), the cold-blooded assassin gradually warms up and lets his guard down, making himself susceptible to attacks by the opposition. Bangkok Dangerous bears all the visual and thematic trademarks of Hong Kong shoot-’em-ups—especially the slo-mo gun battles and shattering of glass sheets—but those familiar tics don’t seem as impressive as they did a decade ago.

Shelf Talk: A big box-office disappointment, Bangkok Dangerous will need strong plugging to make a substantial dent, but Cage’s popularity and a consistent consumer appetite for such material should help. Tie it to popular John Woo movies The Killer, A Better Tomorrow and especially Face/Off, which also starred Cage. The directors were heavily influenced by Woo, and viewers who enjoy the latter’s films will definitely like Bangkok Dangerous.