Bangkok Dangerous (1999 film)

Bangkok Dangerous (Thai: บางกอกแดนเจอรัส เพชฌฆาตเงียบ อันตราย) is a 1999 Thai crime film written and directed by the Pang Brothers. Stylishly edited, the story of a deaf and mute hitman was the debut film for the twin-brother team of filmmakers. A 2008 remake of the same name also directed by the Pangs, stars Nicolas Cage. This film was also unofficially remade as Pattiyal a 2006 Indian Tamil movie.

Plot

Kong is a deaf-mute gunman, an assassin for hire who cannot hear his gunshots. He receives his guidance through Aom, a stripper from in Bangkok. Kong lost his hearing when he was a child. Because of his disability, he was taunted by other children and grows up into an angry young man.

At a target range, he finds he has a knack for target shooting when he visualizes the faces of the boys that taunted him in the target. His deafness gives him an edge in shooting, as he does not react to the gunshots. He eventually gets a job as a janitor at the range.

One day while cleaning up, a customer named Jo is at the shooting range with his girlfriend, Aom. Joe notices Kong watching them. He then offers the pistol to Kong, who impresses Jo and Aom with his pinpoint shooting. Jo then takes Kong under his wing and teaches him how to shoot. When Jo injures his gun hand in a battle, Kong is ready to take on more work.

Working for a mob boss, Kong is sent on a job to Hong Kong. He shoots his target while riding on the Hong Kong subway with Aom on his back. When Kong returns to Bangkok, he catches a cold and needs medicine, so he stops at a pharmacy and meets Fon, a pretty pharmacist. This chance meeting grows into something deeper. It changes Kong's perspective on life as he realizes that life can be meaningful, even for a deaf-mute assassin like him.

Aom has trouble with one of the mob boss' henchmen. She spurns him, but he rapes her. Enraged, Jo takes matters into his own hands, killing the henchman, which brings the mob's wrath down on Jo, which in turn leads to more revenge killing by Kong, and a final big shoot-out in a water bottling plant.

Cast

• Pawalit Mongkolpisit as Kong
• Premsinee Ratanasopha as Fon
• Patharawarin Timkul as Aom
• Pisek Intrakanchit as Jo

Awards and nominations

• 2000 Toronto International Film Festival - won the international critics' (FIPRESCI) Award
• 2001 International Film Festival Rotterdam - nominated for a Tiger Award.

Remake

At the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, the Pang Brothers announced they would remake Bangkok Dangerous with Nicolas Cage in the lead role, though Cage's character would not be deaf. With the working titles Big Hit in Bangkok and Time to Kill, shooting took place in Bangkok in August 2006, and the remake was released on September 5, 2008.

External links

• Bangkok Dangerous at the Internet Movie Database
• Bangkok Dangerous at AllMovie
• Bangkok Dangerous at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bangkok Dangerous at MovieSet
• Bangkok Dangerous Production Notes