The life of Joe, an anonymous assassin, takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Thailand to complete a series of contract killings. Joe, a remorseless hitman, is in Bangkok to execute four enemies of a ruthless crime boss named Surat. He hires Kong, a street punk and pickpocket, to run errands for him with the intention of covering his tracks by killing him at the end of the assignment. Strangely, Joe, the ultimate lone wolf, finds himself mentoring the young man instead whilst simultaneously being drawn into a tentative romance with a local shop girl. As he falls further under the sway of Bangkok’s intoxicating beauty, Joe begins to question his isolated existence and let down his guard--just as Surat decides it’s time to clean house.

There has been a joke going around about Nicolas Cage for a while now that the worst his hairdo is for any particular movie can be the judging factor going in on how bad the film is going to be. For once Bangkok Dangerous bucks that trend as his hairdo is still quite ridiculous but the movie on the other hand is actually quite enjoyable. This might be a film that is not for everyone because this movie also pulls the movie sin of the bait and switch. The trailers hype the film as an action packed movie that is rarely action packed but more of a simmering drama. But the thing is it works very well as a simmering drama and would have very likely have been horrible as a fast paced action film. The movie ends up being very good which is kind of surprising.

I think it might be time though for Nic Cage to admit his age and stop all the hair plugs and crazy hairstyles, they add nothing to the movies and instead just kind of make him a laughing stock. The long crazy hair worked for Raising Arizona but that was over twenty years ago and the much shorted if receding hairline in Leaving Las Vegas just fits him so much better. Cage can act and he may be one of the better actors in Hollywood but he is not doing himself any favors with the silly hairdos and some director somewhere needs to have the balls to call him out on it and force him to cut his hair.

The movie takes that very Kung Fu like quality to it as Cage takes on an apprentice in his trade as professional hitman very much grasshopper style and it works perfectly nearly to the end when they do decide they need one massive silly shoot out to end the film. The movie isn't about a body count but rather its all about the intricacies that it takes to be someone hired to be invisible and to kill on call. The loneliness and desolation makes him much more amiable for an apprentice as much as someone who could be considered a friend. Its a simple story line that has been done many times before but they pull it off until the end when the movie does turn into your atypical action film ala the crappy Hitman released recently.

Without having seen the original its hard for me to judge between the two but the remake does tell a good story, Nic Cage does a good job and overall the movie is entertaining and enthralling until the letdown at the end. The film is worth seeing but you may want to wait until a matinee or video rental, as it’s good but not great.

Grade: B-