Bangkok Dangerous (review)

Hong Kong action meets MTV in this feature debut from Thai writer/directors Danny and Oxide Pang, yet another brotherly team of hotshot young filmmakers. A love of Quentin Tarantino and martial arts flicks exudes from their tale of living and dying by the sword, or the gun, as it were. Hitmen Kong (Pawalit Mongkolpisit) and Joe (Pisek Intrakanchit) work the mean streets of Bangkok, automatic weapons and quick edits their chief weapons, until events push one into a downward spiral of revenge against those who would wrong them. There's a girl, of course: Aom (Patharawarin Timkul), hard-edged but sad, who sorta loves them both. Lots of dirty money gets passed around in crumpled manila envelopes; lots of bullets are expended; lots of blood is lost in slowly spreading pools on the floor. The Pangs have the eye of born filmmakers: Bangkok Dangerous is stylishly shot, if a bit undisciplined, and its story told almost entirely visually -- there's very little dialogue -- but perhaps their screenwriting skills could use some brushing up: it's hard to work up sympathy for any of their characters or enthusiasm for any of their evil deeds.