Bangkok Dangerous (2-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Nicolas Cage plays a hit man named Joe
2. Poor Joe - he has to go through the whole movie with Cage's bad hairstyle
3. Joe has rules that make him the best in the hit man business
4. People depend on Joe to do his job, get paid, and disappear.
5. We often wish that 4. above would apply to Cage also
6. Joe heads to Bangkok for a four-hitter for a man named Surat.
7. One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble as he decides to break his own rules
8. Some rules aren't meant to be broken
9. Best ending for Cage in recent times.

This movie is about a hit man with an extremely high achievement rating. He owes his success to his personal set of rules, which don't allow for friends, relationships, loose ends or sticking around in the business for too long.

For some inexplicable reason, Joe decides to deviate from the rules while on duty in Bangkok, and finds himself in all sorts of trouble.

Cage does a pretty good job as the heroin-using, dour hit man, once you can get past what appears to be a dead animal splayed out on his head and down his neck. The real star however is the scene stealing Shahkrit Yamnarm as his disposable sidekick Kong.

Action wise the movie is okay, except for the scenes shot in blue and red lighting where you can't really see what's going on. The romantic parts are sweet at first, but the sight of Cage doing goo-goo eyes may be upsetting to some viewers. The plot requires as little thought as possible, as it doesn't really make much sense.

Recommended for fans of action-crime movies, and people with a morbid fascination for Cage's hairstyles.

Rated: 3.5 stars

Amanda Richards

Bangkok Dangerous is a perfect movie for a post-summer release. It's got plenty of action, but it also has a great story, one that resonates more than some of the straight-ahead popcorn flicks that you find between May and August.

In the film, Nicolas Cage plays Joe, an otherwise anonymous hitman who provides laconic narration throughtout most of the film. His modus operandi is to setup on the outskirts of his target's location, find someone to act as a go-between with him and his client, and once the hit is completed, kill the go-between to tie up loose ends.

Joe decides that it's time to retire, so he takes one last contract - a series of four hits in Bangkok for a gangster named Surat. He finds a local street punk named Kong to act as his go-between, and proceeds with the hits. But he ends up caring for Kong, and also falls in love with a local pharmacist, which gives him even more pause about his line of work.

The film is a very competent action film, but also has its fair share of drama and emotion. It's not for the squeamish, and Cage's Joe isn't always a charmer, but you find yourself rooting for him, and by extension, rooting for this film.

If you like Nicholas Cage and some of the darker characters he has portrayed you will probably like this movie. It isn't as good as some of his others but I still enjoyed it. The movie is about the psyche of his character and his line of work. Good action intermixed with dialogue driven scenes as his character veers off his usual set of rules for getting the job done. The blu-ray picture quality was good, but not as clear and sharp as most. There is a fair amount of grain especially in the beginning but I suspect this is with intent. The audio quality was very good. Dialogue was clear and easily heard above the action. Surround use was effective in the action scenes. LFE was good but towards the end of the movie the bass really kicks in. For many this may be a watch once only movie.