Bangkok Dangerous
Director: Danny and Oxide Pang
Year: 2001
Starring: Pawalit Mongkolpisit, Premsinee Ratanasopha, Patharawin Timkul,
Pisek Intrakanchit.
Time: 105 minutes
In their film debut, the Oxide brothers
take a well-worn story that has been played out on the dirty streets of Hong
Kong in a multitude of films and transfer it to the hardened streets of Bangkok.
The story itself though seems to really not be the point – it’s the fast
changing style that the Oxide brothers really seem to relish. The film is
built on a gangbang of visual flourishes that feels as if they squeezed Wong
Kar-wai's films through a fruit blender and splashed the output on their
film canvass. For me it was the pulsing beat of these cinematic stylings
that gave the film a fast dancing heartbeat and made it a pleasure to watch.
It certainly can be accused of being derivative of previous films, but its
done with such energy, joy and commitment that it feels like their own.
Kong (Pawalit) is a deaf mute and a professional killer. Give him a fistful
of baht and a picture and you have a dead man. He doesn’t worry who the intended
victim is – if he is a good man or a bad one – it’s all the same to him –
dead is dead. Not having feelings is part of the trade for the deaf and mute
and poor in the City of Angels and it translates well into being a perfect
killer. Kong works with his friend and mentor Joe (Pisek) and they get their
assignments through a go-go bar girl (Aom). Kong falls in love with the lovely
Fon (Premsinee) a pharmacy clerk who tries to guess what Kong does – a bartender
– no – a security guard – no – a gas station attendant? When Kong kills two
muggers without blinking she gets her answer in spades.
Falling in love for a killer almost always foretells bad tidings in a film
and soon things go very wrong for Kong. Aom is raped and filmed by the right
hand man of their boss – and Joe exacts revenge for his friend with a flurry
of bullets to the body and one to the groin. Now he is an open sore waiting
to be wiped clean and Kong gets pulled into this impending speeding car wreck
of betrayal and revenge as well. There isn’t much doubt where the film is
going but the garish hues, sullen noir streets, slo-mo killings and need
for redemption bring you there in style.
The DVD has English subs.
My rating for this film: 7.5