Bangkok Dangerous (2000)

The Age of Commercialism

Just what I expected

How sad is this?

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The Pang Brothers' debut film is brimming with energy. This version of Bangkok Dangerous was filmed in Thailand, not their homeland of China. It must have been challenging to secure funding and other rudimentary objectives before filming began. Their deaf-mute hit-man concept is unique (at least from my own limited film viewing experience). Bangkok Dangerous reflects the precision and enthusiasm of their direction. I can see how many people enjoy it. I can't say that I'm one of them. I found the movie severely lacking a plot until halfway through, and I didn't like how many action sequences were framed. It's so distracting to watch this subtitled movie while various faces appear. Your eyes are drawn to someone's face in anticipation of, well anything, and you miss dialog. Close up shots are to provide introspection within character or audience or heighten the experience of an action segment. If overused, like they are here, they become a murky amalgamation of meaninglessness. However, I must confess that if you know Thai, you won't experience the framing problem to the degree I did.Kong is a warm blooded killer from the mean streets of downtown Bangkok. We see him shooting people throughout the opening segments and cannot detect if he has any remorse for his occupation. He looks passé in comparison to the modern hit men of Western cinema. He goes home after a hard day of work to his shared apartment that is inhabited by his "employer" Jo. Jo may not really be his employer. I couldn't tell what his job is. He seems to exist to provide Kong companionship. Oh, and he also brings in business by asking his girlfriend, Aom, to deliver requests to Kong. Aom is a go go dancer (exotic dancer), who is later raped by an angry client. Jo vows revenge and dies trying to avenger her. She is also killed by the angry client. Kong is left alone with no support network until he meets a pharmacist, Fon, who empathizes with him. He loses her when she witnesses him kill two thugs that interrupt their date. Kong is now completely isolated and decides to kill everyone involved with Jo and Aom's deaths before he commits suicide.Kong's condition offers no dialog. We must sympathize with him like we would a silent movie protagonist. He is portrayed Pawalit Mongkolpisit, who admirably adjusts his facial expression to gain our sympathy. I imagine this is why so many shots are extreme close ups. Since no recognizable plot occurs until midway in, Kong receives no initial characterization. The movie should have commenced with Aom's rape. The slow buildup is inefficacious in creating any reason for its existence. It does eventually evolve into a standard revenge tragedy film with an inconclusive romantic subplot. Fon alerts the police of Kong's final assault, like Jo also serves to advance the plot. Anyone could have done that, why her? She is attracted to Kong, decides he is a bad dude, doesn't even want to look at him, and then realizes her affection. How lazily convenient.I don't even mind the movie's slow pace. Hitchcock taught us that speed can be terrible in eliminating tension. He also gave us a reason to care about what was happening to his characters. The Pang brothers don't do that. Bangkok Dangerous is amateurish work created by well-intentioned people. It permits many mistakes more experienced directors would not allow. The American remake (by the same directors) amends the storytelling faults of this original production. It isn't very good either, by the way. At least they are improving.

Here we go again. make a good Asian film and soon Hollywood will come around and ruin it for you. Those who have followed my criticisms of remakes know how I feel. For others, The Departed was a shallow remake of Infernal Affairs.Now, I see that Nickolas Cage is in a remake of this film. Despite the fact that the Pang brothers are directing and writing, it cannot hope to capture what was here.This is not just an action flick. It is so much more. It is the story of a child with hearing and speech impairment that was cruelly taunted by other children. He grew up into a meaningless life and meaningless jobs until someone noticed he has an ability that could be honed to perfection. Sure, he became a hit-man, but someone cared enough to teach and guide him to his potential.Now, with just two friends, Kong (Pawalit Mongkolpisit) was happy. He lived with his teacher (Pisek Intrakanchit), and got assignments from Aom (Patharawarin Timkul). Life was good, but about to get better.He meets Fon (Premsinee Ratanasopha) and love enters his life. He is supremely happy. Unfortunately, she learns the truth about his occupation, and he has to do some real soul searching.The streets of Bangkok are a perfect backdrop used to maximum effect by the Pang brothers, and the cast is a group that you can really get close to. This is a story that can never be duplicated by someone from Hollywood, and I am disappointed that they would even try.

"Bangkok Dangerous" is a very nice piece of Asian Movie-making - and a typical one as well. The pictures and scenes are brilliant and almost breathtaking, while the story is kind of weak - or at least very straight, simple and without any surprise.And the story holds a lot of "stupid" things, too: f. e. sometimes our deaf killer almost doesn't understand anything when other persons speak to him very slow and clear, one scene later he gets his next killer-job in the darkest corner of a dark road and he is able to read lips perfectly under this bad light conditions...But with the Pang Brothers bringing this simple story to life with such great pictures, a lot of good used special effects and many nice-to-watch digital baubles this movie is definitely worth watching.Sometimes the movie is getting - after my fancy - a little to violent - but hey, this is an Asian movie, so what do you expect, right?A very good movie, but because of the poor story: 8 out of 10.

Loved the opening titles, thought this was going to be a block buster action movie, turned out it was more boring and uninvolving than I thought was possible. It's a rare occasion that I fastforward any movie for whichever reason, but let me put it this way, the last half hour was over in about 8 minutes or so. What a shame, what a waste. 4/10