Bangkok Dangerous (2008): The Tender Side of the Professional Hitman [Joey’s Review]
Something weird happened as Mike and I began recording our podcast episode from BANGKOK DANGEROUS: I realized that I liked what the movie was doing a lot more than I thought when I was watching it. This sort of thing has happened a few times with #CageClub, but I think this might have been the first time my entire perception shifted so radically.
In Bangkok Dangerous, Cage plays a hitman named Joe who sets out on his final job: killing four marks in Bangkok. In spite of this premise, an overwhelming majority of this movie has very little to do with his life as a hitman. Instead, we spend a lot of time focusing on him training a street-level thug named Kong, Cage’s fledgling relationship with a deaf-mute pharmacist, and a budding romance between Kong and a nightclub dancer.
On the surface, this is not the hitman movie I want to see. But the hitman movie I “want” to see is one I’ve seen dozens of times before. This, on the other hand, is something that I haven’t seen: a look at the softer side of a hitman, and what happens in his downtime. It’s not the movie I was expecting, but one that I want to re-watch with this new lens of understanding.
The sole reason this movie exists, and the only reason we see any of these relationships develop, is because Cage breaks a few of his four rules of being a hitman: he gets too close, and chooses to not eliminate all traces of him being on site. If he did everything by the book, it wouldn’t be a movie; there’d be little to no conflict and no real excitement. It’s only because Cage is so quick to break his rules — perhaps because it’s his last job and he’s feeling a little sentimental? — that we get to experience any of this.
With this new perspective, then, it makes the film’s sudden decision to turn into a generic action movie a little more frustrating. The final warehouse shootout is pretty spectacular, and I’m totally okay with that being the only action scene in the movie. But there’s a boat chase that occurs as Cage tries to take out his third hit that feels like it’s supposed to be high-speed and exciting, but just isn’t. Take that out. Let his third hit go smoothly, and only spend 2 minutes on it (like you did with the first two hits), rather than 10. Give us more of the softer side of Cage, rather than generic, poorly shot, and poorly edited action.
TL;DR Bangkok Dangerous is not the movie I expected it to be, which made me like it more than I thought I would.
How can I watch it? All three movies this week are going to cost you a couple bucks if you want to rent ’em.
What’s up next? Things get apocalyptic as we talk about KNOWING.
