The Pang Brothers remake the Pang Brothers as they craft an action thriller for American audiences to consume. They even bring Nicholas Cage on board for the star that we yanks look for. However, they keep most of the plot elements that American audiences might’ve balked at.
Joe (Nicholas Cage) is always traveling for his job. This means that he doesn’t stay in one place often and mostly keeps to himself. However, that’s also by his own design since Joe isn’t peddling anything out of a sample case. The only thing in his case is a gun since Joe is an assassin.
He lives his life by four rules: Don't ask questions, Don't take an interest in people outside of work, Erase every trace (including accomplices), and Know when it's time to get out.
Gangster warlord Surat (Nirattisai Kaljaruek) has brought in Joe, since the Russians swear by him, to pull off four hits for him. Joe’s usual job description includes finding a mule to ferry things between the client and him so that he never sees them. He likes to pick conmen, druggies, or other unsavory characters. That’s because he usually arranges an “accident” for them at the end of the job.
He happens upon the pickpocket Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm) and he’s found his new runner. Kong notices a picture of an elephant on the wall of Joe’s safe house and says that if the trunk is down that it’s bad luck for Joe. Kong’s words come true when Joe suffers an injury on his first assignment, though he pulls it off successfully.
He has to go to a pharmacy to get some medicine for his cut and meets pretty pharmacist Fon (Charlie Yeung), who is also a deaf mute. Kong has also found a love interest in the club dancer Aom (Panward Hemmanee) who acts as the go between for Joe and Surat. Joe breaks his rule and starts to train Kong in the ways of assassination.
He also runs into a crisis of conscience when he’s asked to kill a good man for his fourth and final assignment for Surat.
The Pang Brothers (Oxide and Danny) came onto the scene with their team directorial debut in 1999 with the original Bangkok Dangerous. It was about a deaf mute assassin and the perils that he faced. In 2008, the brothers returned to their beginnings with a remake of Bangkok Dangerous, but this time they would bring on American star Nicholas Cage.
Cage’s casting would necessitate some script changes from the original. Joe would not be a deaf mute as he was in the original and his name changed from Kong to Joe. The deaf mute characteristic would instead be transferred to Joe’s love interest, who in the original was still a pharmacist but worked with the deaf and that would lead to her sympathize with the assassin (though she didn’t know of his profession at first).
Ironically, the ending of the film is what I thought would be most definitely changed in the remake from the bleak original to something more Americanized (happy ending). That didn’t happen, unless you count the alternative ending that’s found on this disc.
In the original we see Kong’s trainer and see how he came to be in the assassination game thanks to his deaf mute ability to not be spooked by gunfire. In the remake Joe talks a lot about this training yet we never really find out who did it or how.
Joe talks big about his four rules, but he’s quick to break them when he takes a shine to Kong (the remake character, who gets the name of the original). It looks like the Pangs did get a nice bump in budget compared to the original and do have some interesting effects and camera angles.
The film does feel more Americanized so that might turn off fans of the original. However, I enjoyed both but this one feels more action packed than the mild (in my opinion) original (which also suffered from not being put out in its original aspect ratio). Cage is a bit too mild though and I might’ve found it better with someone like Chow Yun Fat in the lead role.
Bangkok Dangerous is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features on disc one include the 15-minute “From Hong Kong to Bangkok” that is about the evolution of Hong Kong cinema. The 13 minute “Bangkok Dangerous: The Execution of the film” is a standard making of.
Next is the 8-minute alternative ending that might’ve played better with American audiences and is a much happier one. Finally you get the 2-minute theatrical trailer and previews of other Lionsgate films. Disc two is a digital copy of the film that you can download to your PC or portable device.
Bangkok Dangerous made its debut in a low budget film and gets the bigger budget American treatment this time around. It seemed like it had more action than the original, but the changes to make it palatable to American tastes made the think that the first film was purer. I found the addition of more action to this one appealing, but fans will have to make up their own minds (although they’ll hate the alternative ending I’d gather).
Bangkok Dangerous (Two-Disc Special Edition) is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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