Bangkok Dangerous เพชรฆาตเงียบ อันตราย by the Pang Brothers (1999)
4 February 2010I can’t believe it has taken me this long to see this film, as I have seen many other of the Pang Brother’s films, especially their Hong Kong films, and I always found them at the very least to be very stylish, if usually lacking it too much story. And this film does have style. It makes up for it’s low production value with some impressive editing techniques, and it shows that these brother’s had talent, and they have improved with their budgets (I am currently looking forward to Storm Warriors, just because I love the Storm Riders, the original film, and the Soap Operas, even though I hear it is not too good). Sure some of it drags on a bit, and the stories could have been improved, but it is still quite enjoyable. A very impressive first film!
Kong (Pawalit Mongkolpisit) is a fead and dumb assassin, and is very good at his job. He gets his jobs from a bar hostess named Aom (Patharawarin Timkul) who is the ex of his best friend Jo (Pisek Intrakanchit). Jo is the assassin who trained Kong, but can no longer shoot himself since he got a bullet through his right hand. We learn that Kong used to be taunted as a child because of his deafness, and he started working cleaning up at a gun range. He showed impressive skills, mainly because he did not flinch from the sound of the gun, and Jo and Aom saw him, and had him shoot, and Jo took him under his wing, and trained him to be an assassin. Kong goes to Hong Kong on a hit, and when he returns he has a cold, so he goes to a pharmacy, where he begins to fall for a beautiful pharmacist who helps him named Fon (Premsinee Ratanasopha).
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Kong and Fon start to see a lot of each other, and obviously get along pretty well. Kong is the happiest he has ever been.
Aom meanwhile when getting the hits from the big boss, was watched by one of his henchmen, who stalks her, and when she refuses him, he and his men rape and beat her. When Jo finds out he is furious. Jo only broke up with Aom because he feels useless now since he can no longer shoot. He promises to never leave Aom again, and goes and kills the henchmen and his men using his left hand.
The Boss figures out who did it, and gives another job to Jo, but this time betrays him, giving him a gun full of blanks, and he is killed.
Kong is out with Fon, when some muggers attack, and Kong moves into action, quickly killing the two, and scaring the hell out of Fon, who runs away from him, never wanting to see him again.
Kong and Aom find out that Jo has been killed, and Kong wants to revenge for his friend, but the Boss’s men show up and chase them, and Aom is shot and dies in Kong’s arms. He decides to go kill the Boss who killed his friends.
Kong leaves a letter for Fon telling him he is sorry, and that he won’t see her again, and she goes after him.
Kong goes to the bosses hide out, and takes out all his men, and finally gets to the boss, but the place is surrounded by cops. Fon shows up, and Kong takes his gun and puts his head next to the bosses and shoots himself and the bad guy.
••••
A sad story, and while we do finally see Kong feeling some remorse for his actions, it is not until after he has killed, and after he has seen Fon’s reaction that he feels anything, so he does not get much redemption, just revenge.
Stil as I said a really impressive low budget, first film from the Pangs.
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