Nicolas Cage in "Bangkok Dangerous."



An Assassin Arrives to Turn Off the Lights

Of all the shoddy, insipid qualities of “Bangkok Dangerous,” the most egregious is the most fundamental: The film is simply dreadful to look at. We have at long last reached the nadir of the Malnourished Mood at the cinema, that sickly palate of grimy greens and blues, ubiquitous since “The Matrix,” employed by thrillers with atmospheric pretensions.

So underlighted that it makes “Touch of Evil” look like “Speed Racer,” “Bangkok Dangerous” climaxes with the usual deserted warehouse massacre that finds our hero getting an edge on the bad guys by turning off all the lights. Ha! Are you kidding me? The lights were actually on in the first place?

But perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. After all, if the film were better shot you’d only have a clearer view of derivative banality. Directed by the Pang brothers (Danny and Oxide), “Bangkok Dangerous” is a remake of their 1999 picture of the same name. The original, a slick and shallow thriller about a conflicted assassin, wasn’t so great to begin with, though it blazes with moviemaking genius compared with this halfhearted update.

The American version gets a big old American movie star, Nicolas Cage, for the role of the brooding, floppy-haired assassin. Joe. Those whose memories reach back to 2002, when Mr. Cage starred in “Adaptation,” or even further back to 1996, when he won an Oscar for “Leaving Las Vegas,” might remember that the man who recently said yes to the starring role in “Ghost Rider” is in fact quite capable of acting.

Little of that art is asked of Mr. Cage in “Bangkok Dangerous,” which finds him furrowing his brow, speaking in low, dispirited tones and watching his stunt double zip around killing people on a motorcycle.

Joe, you see, has been hired to carry out four assassinations in the Thai capital. “The money’s good and I do what I’m told,” remarks our ambivalent killer, formulating an ethos that seems to apply to the actor portraying him.

As he works through his assignments, Joe the lone wolf hires a petty thief named Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm) to help with odd jobs and act as his subservient sidekick-protégé. Kong is not nearly as insipid as the deaf-mute pharmacist (Charlie Young) Joe falls in love with, presumably because she satisfies every retrograde Western fantasy of the passive Asian love slave.

And so, with a little help from his friends, Joe realizes that maybe he shouldn’t kill everyone, and that Thai food can be really, really spicy, which is cute when you’re on a date. And what does he learn about Mr. Cage, who helped produce this fiasco?

“Bangkok Dangerous” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes violence.

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