I've discovered that so far, over 30% of Cages films are narrated by him. 95% of them have him in the lead role. Narrating Bangkok dangerous, he plays an international assassin who normally kills his partners. In this story, we learn what kind of people these victims are.
I really appreciate how instead of going for edgy, this film gave us an eye-opening experience, a glimpse at Bangkok. It may be a sensationalized Bangkok, but who knows? I have no immediate plan of going there, even though it would be nice, even if it is dangerous.
One might wonder what the deal is with Cage and playing guys who dye their hair. Maybe his character (curtly known as Joe) is supposed to be younger than his actor, but in this case it doesn't seem to make a difference. Her does look much older than he did in last year's Ghost Rider.
I don't know if being in Asia makes you want to make Asian-style films, but that's what we have here. It's highly cinematic, featuring a hero with an especially cool way of being. And it's such a breath of fresh air to watch a quiet, patient scene of maximum impact. It's not real like Lord of War, no. Instead of going for "wow" stunts and practical effects, the action scenes are fun, relying on actual action and choreography. All right, there are SOME stunts and practical effects. But it's cool to see bullets travel through the bottom of the boat and through the water underneath. You might not be surprised to hear there's a lot of good gun shooting in this film.
At times I felt like Cage was acting on autopilot, especially in the scenes that required real acting. But maybe I'm just used to him by now. Also, I wonder how much the film makers did sensationalize Bangkok and all the things that make it not American. There's also no part of the story that isn't predictable. As soon as you meet a character, you figure out who they're going to be and what's going to happen with them. So a lot of the watching is spent waiting for the end. Though I do like not being totally stressed out when trying to kick back and watch a vid.
It seems like half the time a film 'blows your mind', you're left groaning and wondering how you fell for that, wondering why they couldn't have done something more satisfying. Maybe I'm being generous with my rating, and maybe I was too generous in rating Lord of War. Or maybe I just like this kind of film.
- Raising Arizona
- Leaving Las Vegas
- Red Rock West
- Adaptation
- Birdy
- Wild at Heart
- Color Out of Space
- Peggy Sue Got Married
- City of Angels
- Bangkok Dangerous
- Drive Angry
- Lord of War
- Gone in 60 Seconds
- Matchstick Men
- Vampire's Kiss
- Con Air
- Face/Off
- Honeymoon in Vegas
- Amos and Andrew
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Bringing Out the Dead
- The Family Man
- It Could Happen to You
- 8mm
- Ghost Rider
- Next
- The Weather Man
- 211
- The Croods
ALSO! Lets talk about Saturn Films, Nicolas Cage's own company which I've failed to mention. It was They who rewrote the script for 2007's Next, which as you might remember, turned out horribly. Bangkok Dangerous and Lord of War were also made by Saturn Films. And Sorcerer's Apprentice was produced by them. In the future, I'll be sure to let you know which of these Cage films were done by Saturn.
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