This film manages to display some of the beauty of Bangkok, but it is a letdown in several ways. First of all, we never really learn why Joe (Nicolas Cage) is an assassin. We just know he is paid well to kill but when he meets a deaf girl in Bangkok, and a young man who assists him, he begins to have second thoughts about what he is doing. It’s interesting to note that a leader of the country rides in a motorcade and Joe is in a building across the street, with a rifle, ready to take him out. The scene is set up very much like the motorcade route and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I am not sure what the filmmakers intended with this scene, but I won’t give away what happens.
There is a lot of action in the film but some of it tends to be a bit boring as much of this kind of thing has been done over and over again in other films. There is a lot of violence in the movie, and blood, as well as some nudity, and we cannot endorse it as a family-friendly film. We do not award this picture our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.