Bangkok Dangerous (2000) Reviews

• A Nutshell Review: Bangkok Dangerous

  DICK STEEL2005-10-23

  I picked up this DVD because I've been to Bangkok couple of times, and wanted to see how the filmmakers Oxide and Danny Pang manage to capture the more sleazy side of the city, and combine it with gangster noir to come up with Bangkok Dangerous. I've heard about the movie, and was surprised that our National Library actually had this DVD in its collection. Bangkok Dangerous tells the story of a deaf mute assassin Kong (Pawalit Mongkolpisit). His is a life of mission after mission, a cold and professional, though small time, killer. Growing up being bullied because of his disability, he finds work at a gun range as a cleaner, until he chances upon Joe (Pisek Intrakanchit) and his girlfriend Aom (Patharawarin Timkul). Kong learns his skills from Joe (in an excellent montage), and together, form a tag-team partnership. During the course of work, Kong chances upon the beautiful Fon (Premsinee Ratanasopha) who works at a drugstore, and in between missions, he romances Fon, who doesn't shun him in spite of being a deaf mute. The killer has finally known what it is to develop feelings and to love. However, if you live by the gun, chances are there will be those who are after you. Things change for the worse when Aom offends one of the gang's ranked member, and gets raped. Joe goes for revenge, but ultimately gets literally betrayed by the hand that feeds. Kong has to decide - to finish what had started and avenge his friends, or to try and begin life anew with the woman he loves, even after she has started to avoid him, knowing what he does for a living. In a cosmopolitan city like Bangkok, this film manages to capture a kaleidoscope of colours, mood, and use various camera angles to its advantage. It contrasts the shady underworld and strip bars, and its pulsating music, with the silent, kind world of love that Kong for the first time experiences when he's with Fon. It's a story of finding one's own morality when living in the midst of violence and sleaze, and the seeking of redemption from a life of sin. Code 3 DVD extras: Filmography of filmmakers and inspiration for the film.

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• Bangkok Beautiful

  baku_yaku2003-08-21

  I Really enjoyed this one. The imagery is beautiful and imaginative, excellent editing and vibrant colors. The cast was good, especially the guy playing Kong, the deaf assassin, he did a fantastic job, showing a full range of emotion without uttering a word. I really felt for the guy. In fact, I completely fail to see how the characters are flat and undeveloped like someone said. True, we don't get their life story, but i found my self really caring for them, they felt sort of real even though you didn't get to know that much about them. That, and the girl playing Kong's love interest is so cute it'll make your eyes hurt... About the action. Some people complain about this not being up to par with John Woo's action choreography, but who said an action flick, just because it's from Asia should have to be about making every shoot-out look like the Swan Lake? This is grittier, more unrehearsed, it's not about looking good firing that gun (even though I'm a big fan of that too).I thought that there was some really smart stuff, where brains won over brawn, watch out for the scene with laser sights at the end. I went "ahhh - Clever!" This is not a perfect movie, it has flaws. I felt the ending to be a bit formulaic, and the whole "violence begets more violence" concept surely is nothing new plotwise, but still, it's not dumb and full of holes like so many other action movies. And it's sooo pretty to watch...

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• pretty good really

  awild8532004-11-11

  I thought it was actually a pretty superior 'hitman' film. If you want full-on action in a style of early John Woo, then no, it is probably not perfect for you, but the directing is excellent, the character development is good, and the idea as original as any other. I liked it, and liked the style particularly. It does borrow a lot from early Woo i guess, but it is borrowing and not stealing. There is enough originality of idea and of direction. The acting is pretty uniformly good as well. The critics in Toronto liked it too. (see awards and nominations)

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• Fantastic Movie

  scott852009-11-01

  I really loved this movie, i stayed up late one night to watch it, and this is the Original.. not the remake with nicholas cage. I haven't seen that one yet, i probably will, but i really loved this one, i really felt for the main character, i felt sorry for him that he was deaf, i just kept thinking during the movie, please get back together with Fon, she was so sweet and cute, she was perfect for him, all in all great movie, i am a big movie fan, American and foreign. And for me, this was grade A for a foreign film. Bravooooo. I will admit i cried at the end, why did he have to kill himself, i guess, he would've ended up in prison for life anyway.

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• Cool and composed

  NukedaFridge2006-05-25

  Bangkok Dangerous I felt was a very stylish, well acted film with themes and, to an extent, a plot that ran along the same lines as alternative assassin flick Leon. Bangkok dangerous forms its protagionist with character interactions but mostly by delving into how he became the cold killer he is through a series of flashbacks which are not integral to the plot or even shown fluently but integral to our understanding of this troubled soul. The camera work in this film is its pro and con, at certain points style, fluidity and technique are all concentrated together to make some memorable scenes whereas occasionally certain shots has failed to impress and look slightly amateurish. The relationships in this film could also have had more focus on them because instead what we have is a series of different characters stories when we should have one large companionship struck by fate, betrayal and love. Warning for anybody watching this soon, the music ranges from OK to terrible and frequently fails to match the action. In conclusion: Pretty good, if actions you're thing then this is you're thing but you'll probably cry you're guts out anyway. Its still quite moving. Plot - 5 Plot Development - 7 Acting - 8 Style - 7 Music - 3 Action - 10 Average - 6.66 Stars

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