Review of Bangkok Dangerous (2008) by Allan C — 12 Nov 2018

Nicolas Cage has possibly his silliest haircut yet (and that's saying something for the star of "Con Air" "Raising Arizona" and "Adaptation"). In "Bangkok Dangerous" he plays a hitman in Thailand who finds himself running afoul his bosses.

The story feels very similar to "John Wick" (6 years before "John Wick") but is nowhere as good. The Pang Brothers were coming off an international hit with their horror film "The Eye" and made their American film debut with this remake of their own earlier action film.

I haven't seen that original version, but their action sensibilities are nowhere as good as their horror filmmaking skill set for building scares and suspense. They do bring a strong visual style and flair to the proceedings, particularly in their use of color and framing, but the film's action sequences are disappointingly routine and not all that exciting.

Overall, "Bangkok Dangerous" is not terrible, but it's not all that good either. If anything, it made me want to watch the original film to see what the non-Americanized version of the film was like.