BANGKOK DANGEROUS

As much as I like Nicholas Cage, I sometimes wonder why he insists on choosing movies like “Bangkok Dangerous”. He is an extremely talented actor who could devote himself to making films of substance and quality (action and suspense included) however in his large collection of films, one can find flops such as this one right alongside such amazing work as “Birdie” and “Leaving Las Vegas”.

Here, Cage portrays a contract killer who plans on retiring the profession after one last assignment. An assignment that takes him to Thailand where a chance encounter with a young man he chooses to hire as his help (planning on taking him out as well when the job is done), changes everything. Things seem to go from bad to worse in a matter of minutes and this supposedly best in his line of work man quickly begins making mistakes that may cast him his life.

Thus goes the storyline and it has a potential of being a very interesting film told from a perspective of a contract killer however, it lacks in so many aspects that one could not even call it mediocre. The many ‘shoot-them-up, blow-them-up” scenes become tiring in the first twenty minutes of the movie when one realizes they lead to nowhere. And the scenery of the Asian country does not provide the colorful and bustling aspect the filmmakers were trying to achieve. Rather, it stands out like a sore… And the way the movie was filmed may well have added to its failure. The pasty colors do not give anyone justice, especially Cage who simply looks old and tired. Or perhaps that was the plan…

All in all, this is one movie I’d say ‘skip it’ unless you don’t mind nearly two hours of dragging action and a plot that is both boring and predictable…