Remakes are dangerous territory.  Like adaptations, a tangible, quantified (box-office gross, copies sold, etc.) standard already exists with which the remake is burdened.  With the added pressure and inevitable audience biases to cope with, many directors wisely shy away from such projects unless either the resources and talent are available to improve upon the original or there’s a lucrative market to capitalize on.  Directors Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang apparently didn’t realize that they had neither.

The last 15 or so Nicolas Cage flicks, with the exception of “Lord of War” (2005), “The Weatherman” (2005) and “Adaptation” (2002) feature characters in which this once promising actor has no business playing.  It makes me yearn for the days of “Raising Arizona” (1987) in which he was brilliant.  Cage’s career is a perennial yo-yo.

The fault doesn’t rest entirely, or even mostly, settle on Cage’s shoulders for this incoherent, directionless bullet-fest.  The Pangs’ error was attempting to reprise their already sufficient work.  One Bangkok Dangerous was enough.

There are some genuinely good action sequences and a couple of tender moments, but they’re not enough to revive this tired, unnecessary, mistake.