Bangkok Dangerous (1999)

I rented this with no idea there was an Nic Cage-starring remake scheduled for release later this year. I actually got it out of my longstanding love for stylish Asian gangster movies and my affection for the big, dirty, too-hot town of Bangkok itself (the phones on the banner of my site are from a shot I took in Siam Square). But it’s a pretty odd choice for a film to remake, even by the original directors. It’s stylish, in an appealingly low-budget way, but it doesn’t fit together particularly well. On the one hand, it’s a by-the-numbers post-John Woo crime flick, about a noble hitman who is double-crossed and out for revenge. On the other, it’s a by-the-numbers character sketch of a lonely deaf guy who falls in love with a sympathetic shop girl. So the result is a movie about a lonely, deaf hitman-with-a-conscience out for revenge and/or love. In the space of great combinations, its not exactly peanut butter and chocolate.