"A delightful surprise, considering I didn’t think I would like it. But it definintely could've deleted some scenes and the ending is crappy."
Once again, I almost fell for the hype... or in this case, the lack of it. All I heard about this movie before it was released was that it was not any good and that Nicholas Cage looked stupid with the long hair. Well, what do I have to say about that? One, the movie IS pretty good and Cage looks fine with his long hair. Didn't he have long hair in the movie Con Air, which most people liked? I believe so. So there... I said it. Now let me expand on it so you can make up your own mind.
This movie is a remake of the 1999 version of the same name... only this time, the focus is on the character of Joe... not Kong. In the original, Kong was a deaf mute who befriends a hitman named Joe and eventually learns to become a hitman himself after Joe teaches him all he knows. I've never seen the original, but I hear its pretty good.
This updated version is slightly different. The movie focuses on the Joe character... not Kong. Joe, who has four hits to do in Bangkok, enlists the help of a young hustler named Kong. Kong is not deaf or mute like in the original version, although they do place that disability in this remake in the character of Fon, the young pharmacist who falls in love with Joe. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Joe arrives in Bangkok and immediately befriends Kong who he uses as a messenger boy between him and his employers. His employers don't know him and Joe doesn't know them... that's how he wants it. You see, he lives by four rules. One, don't ask questions because all targets are bad... bad to somebody. Two, don't make outside contact and don't get personal with anyone. Three, erase and eliminate everything and everyone that can be linked back to you. And four, always have a way out before you become the target. So befriending Kong really wasn't a good thing... for Kong (see rule #3). But Joe breaks every single one of his rules by the end of this story because somewhere along the line, he began to care and grew a conscience. This is where it gets sticky. Joe begins to question his profession and realizes that killing just anyone for money has consequences within. Not all targets are bad after all. But its only after he kills a few of his targets that his conscience begins to show up. And its those hits that make this movie fun.
The acting is really pretty good. I realize that Nick Cage has had a little trouble in the box office department lately but he still does a good job. For the exception of the National Treasure movies, Cage really hasn't had a decent hit. Remember the small period of time he couldn't do wrong? In a four year period, he made Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, Snake Eyes, and Gone in Sixty Seconds. Then he kinda hit a wall and started making good movies but not really box office hits like Matchstick Men, World Trade Center, Ghost Rider, and Next. Maybe it's because the only emotion he can really portray well is the calm dude with the voice that never changes. Whether he is having dinner or is in a shoot out, in essence it his because he is devoid of any emotion. His portrayal of Joe is well done.
The rest of the cast is pretty much of oriental decent. Kong is portrayed by Shahkrit Yamnarm. Never heard of the guy, but he played the character well. At first, he comes across like a young arrogant punk, but as he yearns to learn Joe's profession, the audience will actually begin liking the guy. The other main character is Fon (played by Charlie Yeung), the deaf-mute pharmacist who falls in love with our hitman Joe. Though I'm pretty sure she's a fine actress in other movies (which I've never seen), the scenes with her were just flat out boring. Not only that... every time there was a scene with her, she was using sign language with Joe, who has to try to figure out what she is saying. I don't mean to sound mean, but I felt Joe and I were playing charades... and dammit... he'd beat me every time cause I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she was trying to say. Get a pencil and paper woman! It's easier and we'd get through your damn scenes faster.
Honestly, I wish the scenes with Fon had been cut out. They were used to humanize our hitman Joe, but I feel the relationship he developed with Kong was doing that sufficiently. She really wasn't needed except to kill time in the movie. And that's what hurts the movie because the rest of the story is told rather well. The discipline of the hitman who develops a conscience and therefore begins to lose that discipline is told rather well.
The real fun stuff are the hits. We see two hits performed almost flawless, then a third one very sloppy. We see the transgression of a man having his doubts about killing innocent people around his targets in the third hit. After a great action sequence involving boats, motorcycles, explosions, and guns, the hit IS successful. I know I told you he was there for four hits... but I won't tell you how the fourth one ends since that is an important part of the story. I will say this: besides the scenes that drag a bit, the other flaw to this movie is the ending. It will be a slight disappointment leaving you thinking "that's it?". Unfortunately, that IS it. You leave the theater with a slight bitter taste in your mouth and thinking that this movie could have been much better if the ending was too. But its not.
The visuals are amazing. There's guns blazing, explosions galore, car chases, hands chopped off, and an interesting underwater scene. You'll really enjoy the different ways hitman Joe kills his prey... it's fun to watch. There's really not much else to say. The movie doesn't take itself seriously and doesn't try to make any major moral point like other movies. Its simply an action flick with no extreme violence/gore, no extreme profanity, no extreme sexual content, and no extremely 'important' artistic message. Notice I use the word "extreme" because there is SOME of that stuff in the movie haha.
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