LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Everything is relative in the realm of hyperviolent movies, and compared to this summer's other character assassination thriller, "Wanted," "Bangkok Dangerous" is a model of restraint and moral uprightness.
It still has more than enough mayhem to stimulate young males, but it doesn't fetishize murder with the same loving sensualness that you saw in "Wanted." This remake of the Pang brothers' 1999 Thai picture was non screened for critics in advance of its Friday acquittance via Lionsgate, but it's a pretty nifty B-movie and should do well for a week or two.
The photo opens with voice-over by Nicolas Cage's Joe, describing his vocation as triggerman: "Work is steady, money's good, merely it's non for everybody." That intro indicates one of the movie's unexpected strengths: a dry common sense of humor, which the core hearing might non even notice. The storey is that ancient one about the gunslinger wHO wants to quit merely agrees to take on one net assignment. Joe travels to Bangkok to hit four-spot targets for a felonious syndicate. He begins to experience pangs of conscience when he meets a beautiful, indifferent pharmacist and learns that one of his potentiality victims really is a noble reformer.
The script by Jason Richman is predictable but workmanlike, and the Pangs' centering rocks. Like most movies these days, "Bangkok" is overedited to provide a frenzied adrenalin rush. But there are sequences -- an assassination in a hotel swimming pool and a motorcycle-and-boat chase through a floating market -- where the editing by Mike Jackson and Curran Pang is quite masterful. The film makes first-class use of the Bangkok locations.
Although many have questioned Cage's selection of vehicles lately, the Oscar-winning star brings unostentatious wit and even a touch of tenderness to his portrayal here. As his bore young acolyte, Shahkrit Yamnarm is immensely likable, balancing a hustler's charm with the ingenuousness of a kid out of his depth. As the deaf pharmacist, Charlie Young has a lovely presence, though she can't surmount the script's schmaltzy moments.
"Bangkok" won't be qualification any appearances at the Oscars, only it is executed with skill and -- a severed tree branch or two notwithstanding -- without to a fault much bloody excess.
/Hollywood Reporter
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